[Monday February 20th] 8 Things I Learned About Deadlines

Who wins now? EH!

It’s been a month and I’ve nearly forgotten how to blog, which is funny, cause these days you can’t make me shut up. Work has been a bit crazy and my fingers ache from the constant tap, tap, tapping on the keyboard. Then I had to bounce around doctors for awhile, which further added unnecessary stress [nothing too serious with me] and then came news from the frontier to the West, where mother is working right now. In between all of this I’ve been pretty silent, because I’ve been chasing deadlines.

What advice about deadlines will tell is that you have to stick to them. What advice neglects to say is that you have to be extremely realistic about the number of deadlines or at least I’ve missed the guidebook to deadlines some way along the way. If there is a copy somewhere that no one needs, my e-mail is in my bio [just saying]. The gist of this post right now is that I’ve been an incredibly naughty boy and expected unrealistic things from myself.

As you might suspect already, I want to be on top of everything and it’s not been happening as planned. I edit for Tales to Terrify, I write and I review [though I thought I had stopped for good] and then I have several other big as hell blog initiatives, which more or less have fallen in the background. Top that with a full time job and university and you have yourself a basic recipe for chasing deadlines all the time. Here are the lessons I learned chasing deadlines and failing some times:

1] Write down everything connected to your project and deadlines. Most of the time, you will work in tiny bites of time. Managing fiction for a podcast has taught me that a big project is a clockwork robot rather than a brontosaurus, meaning that it’s a ticking organism with so many parts that take minutes separately, but letting them slip through the cracks of your mind will come back to bite you. This can easily apply to writing, which I learned after forgetting a few stunningly beautiful ways I could have employed in my latest story.

2] Newsflash: Life’s unpredictable, so you’d better learn to predict situations that will suck your time and be beyond your mortal control. Although doing what you love may offset the depression of having a job that suffocates you or [insert anything unpleasant you have to deal with every goddamn day], you have a real life with real people and other real things. Real life doesn’t like to be ignored. Hell to the no, girlfriend. Real life’s like a kitty cat, a bad kitty of imminent doom that poops on your head for no good reason.

If I hadn’t spent two weeks with intense pain, because of a bad back, I’d probably be on time with most of my deadlines. Plans mean nothing, when you are an unwilling component of this sick algorithm that is life. It’s a crucial skill to know how many projects you can undertake, which you are sure you will bring to fruition even if your life crashes in pretty painted flames of devastation.

3] You are not a time table. As much as I’d want to conquer the Internet and have hot men throw their jockstraps at me, I discovered that I can’t do everything. This is the basic mistake that I do time and time again. I assume that just because I have a free slot in my schedule and yes, I do have a schedule, I can put something in there.

So what happens, when you realize that your schedule has tasks that have you type and read for what feels like eternity and your brain says, enough is enough. Naturally, you crave some sort of outlet, be it skimpy books in pink covers [I stopped reading those, when I discovered that the skimpy pink books came only in female fantasy editions rather than gay fantasy ones] or reality TV [either classy and/or campy for me, please] coupled with as many TV series as I can watch. Maybe you are one of those weird people that go outside and talk to people, fleshy bits to fleshy bits. In translation, work will not be done. Work that needs to be done and you can’t complete, because you are exhausted. Plan activities that will allow you to recharge your batteries or I tell you that you’ve got a first class ticket to Burnout Land. PS: It will not be pretty. It never is and it’s the fastest way to hate something with burning passion.

4] You are responsible for your guilt. If you assign yourself too many deadlines, you don’t meet, because you sought to take a rest, you get your high and then what. Guilt that is what. The wrist-slitting guilt that has you all tossing and turning at night, accusing you that your careless ways are what will always separate you from those that have succeeded in their career. So unless you want to flirt with a sharp set of razor blades and set yourself for low self-esteem and failure, why not cut yourself some slack and what you are realistically able to complete as projects.

5] A deadline does not mean waiting for the last possible moment. The Internet is full of memes, where students consider their teacher’s deadline a challenge to see how late they can start with their paper. Don’t be that douche that purposefully starts at the last minute possible. I’ve done this stunt a couple of times and I’m far from proud with myself. Plus, apart from the inevitable guilt you will generate, your work will be sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. So do yourself a favor and start as early as possible.  

6] Don’t expect people you’ve put on a deadline to remember their deadline. Through my work at Tales to Terrify, I learned the hard way that delegating tasks and expecting them to be done isn’t as innocent as it seems. I did that. I trusted the powers that be that everything will be honky-dory and forgot about the deadline. Guess what. This came back to bite me, cause shit happens to the people you collaborate with. They get sick. They get involved in some sort of life conspiracy and the last thing on your collaborator’s mind is your deadline.

7] Talk with your collaborators about updates. If you want to avoid feeling like an idiot, negotiate with your collaborator how you as the one with the request will proceed in regards to the deadline. Set a few check point dates that will ensure that you get all the updates needed without coming off as a panicked, desperate ninny. You also get the bonus of psychologically engaging your collaborator so that even if suddenly something comes up that will cause delays, your collaborator is way more likely to warn you, even though in the greater scale of things your deadline matters. Of course, I’m referring to all the projects that run on good will rather than money. When money is involved, people tend to be a lot more organized.

8] Content first, publication later. To continue my thread, I’ve always started projects even before my involvement with Tales to Terrify, where I relied on people’s content. A normal person would be cautious enough to arrange the deadlines for the contributors long before they are needed. It’s way easier to schedule something that you have rather than something that you have promised to have. I, on the other hand, assume that everything runs on fairy magic, so I had a few close calls, but lesson has been learned. Everything can happen and a good deadline chaser knows that time is a stretchy, gooey thing that runs through the fingers.

   

[January 10th] Horror Podcast "Tales to Terrify" and I As An Editor

I've been talking about this Secret Project for ages and now it's time to reveal it. I've been picked up by Tony Smith, you know, the Hugo award winner for the science fiction podcast StarShipSofa, to work on a new podcast as an assistant editor, but this time the genre is horror. As you might have guessed, the name of the podcast is "Tales to Terrify" and we're launching this Friday, January the 13th, because we all need a certain sense for fatality.

Here is the official promo for the "Tales to Terrify"

 

Something creeps in between the cracks of your opened browser tabs. It hisses and whispers behind the static of your headphones. It’s there, when you touch the keys on your keyboard. You can only catch a silhouette in the corners of your screen. 

Yes, your computer has been possessed and the ghost that will haunt your browsing history from Friday, January 13th onward is “Tales To Terrify”. 

Tony Smith, Hugo award winner for his internationally renowned science fiction podcast Star Ship Sofa, dares to allows the scariest, spookiest and creepiest horror stories that have been published to speak as the producer and editor of your new favourite horror podcast. 

The voice of “Tales to Terrify” is award winning author and narrator, Lawrence Santoro, who has known dark tales since early childhood. Functioning as assistant editors are new comer writer and reviewer, Harry Markov and multi-tasking writer and slush reader, Sarah Hendrix. The task to bring disturbing visual content falls on our art director Church H. Tucker. 

“Tales to Terrify” will gather together fiction from both established and break-through voices in horror from around the world to interpret horror in all of its nuances and manifestations. In the shows to come you will hear already published stories by names such as Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Gary McMahon, Gemma Files, Caitlin R. Kiernan and Nick Mamatas among many others. 

“Tales to Terrify” will function as horror-centric hub for fans of fiction, art, movies and other horror-dominated genres. 

Hush now and let us haunt your feed. 

Our first show presents "Chair" by Martin Mundt. Since this is a rather huge deal for me, I would like to ask you to help spread the word and make the debut of our first show a success. Speak, link, tweet and gossip. Thank you in advance.    

Here is the URL: http://talestoterrify.com/

[December 19th] Ready, Set, Edit

Somehow, I will always consider editors and writers in editing stages to be this in real life. I mean, not evil and mindless in their rage, but at constant war with mistakes in manuscripts.

I've had Crimson Anatomy [previously known as Crimson Cacophony] out to beta readers and I've received some feedback, which suggests that a lot has to be changed, both big and small. I thought that readers had to be informed about certain physical transitions, which now I realize I overdid and will have to tone down, if I'd like to avoid any annoyance on the part of the reader.

I was aware at the time that some aspects in the novel would need to be fixed, but I also knew that my perspective on the novel has shrunk to what was on the pages and not how it could be altered to support the ideas expressed on the pages. What this feedback has managed to show me is that everything has to have its purpose to be written about, within a scene, then within a sub-plot, then within the work as a single, whole work of art. Now I know these things in theory, but I learn best by doing something a thousand times wrong, which has happened here. 

Now I'm ready to tackle this beast, again. I'll write a synopsis of the new draft, hopefully the final one in terms of big changes and then read the manuscript to make notes and then I shall invoke the Red Pen's power: 

"On manuscript's pages white

no error shall escape my sight.

Flee, for tis not how I write.

Succumb to Red Pen's viscous bite"*

* - Any similarities between this little rhyme and anything that or may not be a pop-culture icon are purely coincidental.

[December 15th] Shoot Your Writer's Ego, Wallow in Self-Pity

I feel as if I'm wearing my insides out in such situations.

 I’ve had some time to think this through. For the reason that I can adorn any situation with far too much drama than it’s needed, I choose to stay away from personal topics on this blog, but I’m beginning to grow confident that I can present some ‘real life’ experience in my posts. It’s a good time as any to dispel some of the mysteries that surround my person [believe it or not I’m a prime suspect of being a sentient cat with the ability to type in QWERTY].

Since this story is more of a moral, which has a lot to do with writing, I think it’s best shared here out in the open. As you can see by all the ‘I think’, ‘I this’ and ‘I that’ sentences I’m all self-conscious about what happened at my day job, so here’s hoping that you don’t think ill of me [and you can definitely recognize how too many episodes of Downton Abbey have left a mark on my turn of phrase].

My office job for the past three months [I switched departments before attending Fantasy Con this year] has me writing eight hours per day. It’s simple writing with a simple purpose and a low level of importance. This means that as long as I manage a lot of it everyone is happy, but here comes the ‘but’ thing. Being a writer among non-writers can be deceptive of how good you really are and because my writing [influenced by my fiction-writing style] used English a bit more imaginatively my mistakes either have not been mentioned to me or could not have been pointed out to me by non-native speakers, which my day-to-day superiors are. What we have is a recipe for a big ego [being constantly asked to translate words and how to best write a certain phrase] with no safety net [so far there is no challenger on the front].

Since I pride myself in being this good in English [though I’m sure this blog post is filled with God knows how many imperfections, which I’m not picking up no matter how hard I try], it’s fairly easy for me to get my head stuck in the clouds. I love receiving the praise, not for the sake of attention whoring, but because I associate my childhood with weekends spent inside the house scribbling words ad infinitum. I think I had to write Thursday more than a hundred times to get it right and remember it. I still hate this day, when I mention it in English, mainly because of my ordeal learning it. My friends used to play outside. I had a dictionary and one hell of a mother, who fits the profile of the constantly ridiculed cliché of an Asian parent. I’m not regretful. I didn’t think much of being in the same private classes with students two-three years older than me. I just love English and when I’m praised, I feel validated to the point I may develop a bit of an ego.

Thankfully, that ego got shot down Tuesday, when the editor in charge of the sales copy team I’m working under [new set of duties for me] had me brought over to discuss changes to the first website copy I had written. Oh boy was it a humiliating. I can’t understand how a person [my editor is from Texas, so I’ll call him Editor Tex] can say that he likes what my material and at the same time chop down every sentence I have written and rephrase until you can’t tell it has been written by me.

Editor Tex is an awesome person, by the way. I can see that he is indeed trying to help me and where he was able to explain why the changes in some expressions was needed [words with negative connotations of any variety should be replaced with words that on a subconscious level are all about sunshine and smiles] I immediately wrote those down. However, there were changes, which I didn’t understand. Editor Tex couldn’t provide an exact answer as to why he made them and went on to explain how there are subtleties to language use [the purpose of the editing session was to teach me those], but without really presenting an argument for the changes in sentence structure.

My initial reaction to all of this was: Holy flying cow from Jupiter, can I string one sentence together correctly? It was as if I had never studied the language, as if the sacrificed hours had amounted to nothing. I fully realized that this is needless dramatic gut response, but at the time I couldn't help it. Thankfully, I kept repeating myself that this is not about me, but about the writing. At the same time, how I can separate myself from the writing, when my English is my work. It's my grand work, which has lead to this individual ones. All so complex on an emotional level. 

I don’t know what to make of this situation. To the people I have confided the situation, I’m to ignore some of the more perplexing changes Editor Tex makes as to a matter of taste and to take away what I do find useful. Another individual told me that to her Editor Tex abused his power as an editor, providing destructive-rather-than-constructive critique. It’s tricky territory to be in as I greatly respect editors and I’ve grown comfortable receiving bathed in red works I have given to readers with far superior understanding of the English language. It’s just proof that a language is so rich that it always gives you more to learn and I’m happy to learn. But I can’t deny that sitting there for closely 45 minutes [all spent on a page and a half] humiliated me in ways I can’t even begin to comprehend. I don’t hold anything against Editor Tex and I certainly can’t imagine having anything else than a verbal discussion. Yet, having to sit there and hear the editor wonder how he can make sense of my sentences, because my phrasing was so off and in real time… Far from pleasant. If there ever was a version of the SAW franchise to do with writing, then my experience would qualify.

In short, I’m grateful that I work in an office, whose superiors are invested in helping their employees work to developing their skill sets. I’m big enough a boy to understand that there is no chance I will nail this sort of writing from the first time around. I’m also grown up enough to admit to myself that I’m far from being the best, never will be and that the best I can hope for is constant improvement [but given that I shut up, shoot down my ego and get cracking]. I will have to grow thicker skin, because fine tuning how a non-speaker uses English so that it convincingly mimics a native speaker [while living in a non-English-speaking environment] is going to be tough, humiliating and humbling. No other way around it.

I’ll leave the floor for you guys. Do you think I’m a whiner? What are your nightmare stories connecting with editing sessions?

[October 16th] Editorship, Walking Dead, Books, Short Stories

This post's image is called "Howlls" by artist Greenviggen.

It’s a mild update post with random things that may or may not interest you enough to care or comment, because it’s largely personal rather than opinionated post.

1] Editorship. I’ve concluded my slush reading duties for Bryan Thomas-Schmidt’s anthology Space Battles, but that doesn’t mean that the work is done. I’m considering a heavy campaign to promote the anthology around the Internet, probably month-long as soon as I get to see the cover. I’m thrilled with this project as the writers Bryan has selected are talented and breathe excitement in their work.

In the mean time, I submitted my application for the spot as guest editor for The Future Fire. Submissions are accepted through the whole of October and in short, The Future Fire plans to publish themed issues, which will be edited alongside guest editors. The guest editor has a say in what the theme will be, who the targeted authors will be, the work, the promotion and the funding, which is an excellent learning experience. I will keep my theme a secret, until I can confirm an involvement or not.

2] The Walking Dead premiers its second season in the US today, which means the pilot will be available in Bulgaria the following Monday [unbelievable]. This premiere will activate my duties for Innsmouth Free Press as I’ve agreed to do an episode by episode review. I won’t be comparing the series to the comics, because I stopped following the series a long time ago and as far as I know the series is taking liberties with the source material as it is.

3] I’m progressively growing aware that I don’t develop my interests and maintain my focus on fantasy fiction. While on its own, this is not so bad, I’d prefer not isolate myself in this tiny bubble. The world is wide, books abound. Time to expand my horizons. Right now I’m in the middle of my first memoir called Wild Swans by Jung Chang, then I’m considering buying a few books on marketing and commercials.

4] The months I spend in revisions and edits on Crimson Cacophony [though I’m considering changing that title to Crimson Anatomy, tell me whatcha think] has left me in a bizarre mental state, where I can’t disconnect from the voice or the world or the editing mode. Slowly, I’m acclimatizing to creation rather than improvement. I’ve sat to plot stories for the Lungs story cycle and the sheer diversity that I’m reaching within my mind propels perpetual creativity. It is a very nice place to be in, I admit. However, my creative process on the cycle will have to wait for another post.

So what have you been up to?

[October 12th] Seventh Round of Edits Completed

I love the art of Lora 8. Something very special in that girl.

As I have told Twitter yesterday and today in the morning, I completed the seventh round of edits on Crimson Cacophony. This one matters, because I sat through the project without interruptions [read saying 'screw it' and start something else] and although with a one month delay [and a bit on top] I finished major edits. The ones that affirm my vision about the novel. I make my decisions and stick to them without throwing my story in disarray.

Crimson Cacophony is the first book I've ever conceived, so it's a corner stone for me as a writer to have it completed and sent to beta readers. I could have always scrapped it and returned to one of my other projects, but then I'd always feel as if I haven't been serious as a writer. I'd be one of the 'I've kinda written something, but it's not done yet' writers, whose work is, by the by, never ever quite done.

Now that this has been tossed out in the world, I want to return to short fiction and complete my Lungs cycle before moving to revisions of V is for Virus, the futuristic super-villain story I've been brewing in my head.

[September 22nd] Revision's Red

'Dear Prudence' by Larkin

I realize that the technical term is editing at this stage, rather than revisions, but I felt a strong need to alliterate. Makes any titles catchier, even if it is a cheap trick.

An update then. Contrary to popular belief, mine included, I'm to meet the self imposed deadline on Crimson Cacophony. Arguably, I have 20,000 words more to add [the lack of detail in the latter third of my chapters is staggering in its scope and ambition] even with six remaining chapters. Though I'll certainly adopt the role of a surgeon should the need thereof arise. I prefer my chapters to be trimmed and slimmed down into bites. The inclusion of agent Thater is one of the highlights, which will make the ending more realistic in the sense that it will make a lot more sense.

One of the trends I've realized with this novel is that other than Syringe, all my other characters are male, which is rather abnormal for me. My fiction is female exclusive [am I using this right?]. Women rule, women destroy, women overcome. In Crimson Cacophony it's as though I'm overcompensating for ignoring my own gender.

I have six more days in order to conclude the subsequent draft of Crimson Cacophony, before my trip to the UK, where I shall be attending Brighton's FantasyCon. I'm not sure whether I have mentioned my trip before, but I will definitely spell out more in regards to the journey. My project is to have a travelogue from the dates 28.09 [date of departure from my home] and the 05.10 [time of arrival at my home].

-----
Project: Crimson Cacophony
Chapters Edited: 34
Words total: 64,700/80,000 (supposedly)
Chapters left: 6 (supposedly)

[August 10th] Ahead of Schedule

This week's piece comes from Dan Duncan & I chose it because I wish I had the ability to go back in time and not waste it. Yes, I procrastinated profusely... Does a person go to hell for that?

I surprised myself by being ahead of schedule [hence the wonderfully imaginative title of today's post] and have gone over the chapter quota I wanted. Instead of resting my ass on chapter 10, I've completed edits on the next two chapters as well. I'm in love with how I've set things up so far. I've even divided the book in two parts and one prelude. The only issue so far is the fact that the usual garden variety Urban Fantasy [along with a lot other speculative fiction genres] runs a minimum of 90K and I have 61K novel.

While I do predict 10K increase, where I have slacked off in the last chapters, I still need 19K more. Theresa Bazelli, my alpha, suggested more interrogations and a brand new character and what do you know, my subconscious is actually excited to include a new character in the novel. I even know who that will be. *itch itch itch*

Project: Crimson Cacophony
Chapters Edited: 12
Words total: 18,129/90,000 (with 30,000 to add)
Chapters left: 24 (supposedly)

[August 9th] Final Stage Revisions Entered

The title of this piece is "Imagine" & I'm imagining finishing something properly.

As anticlamtic as the blog has been, I for one can say that I have been doing work on “Crimson Cacophony”. I’ve finished with the preliminary reading, assembled all the plot lines in a chart and am able to throw in notes in the table as to what I have to fix in order to connect each chapter with the next.

I can’t honestly say that this feels entirely organic, in the sense that I have to answer questions that I have left in my own writing, like how the hell is my character feeling confident in her abilities, when each and every success she achieves has someone else’s involvement as foundation. The whole novel is a careful balancing act between the depression she feels knowing that she is marionette with very promiscuous strings and the delusional hope that she can obtain the power [magical or otherwise] of the imaginary super ego she has created for herself.

I can’t say that this in particular is plot as the struggle is internal and represents the themes of identity and control, which I’m fascinated with for this particular project. Nevertheless, this constant swinging motion from one state to the next should go uninterrupted throughout the duration of the whole novel, while everything else happens.

On another note, I’m not entirely happy at how I’ve rushed the last third of the novel. If you read my manuscript you will see three distinct phases. “I’m so in love with this project” which runs its course in the first ten to thirteen chapters, where everything is written to the fullest and a balance between show and tell has been achieved. Then comes “Eh, I’m kinda not interested, plus this is the middle and I have no clue what happens” with chapters that are okayish, but mumble events, glossing over the details. AND then it all crashes and burns with “Can I get this over with” with chapters as intelligible as monkey dribble on banana peels.

So far I’ve passed seven chapters. So that leaves 29 more to go and 30 K more to add to the flesh and bones that I leave in my ending. Suddenly, I’m not very optimistic that an end of August deadlines is possible.

[August 4th] Back to the Editing Board

"My, my, my, how dusty you are, Miss Typewriter!"

With July slaughtered and rotting in my basement, where authorities will never think to look, I now have free reign to kick ass during August. As I pass through my August rebirth, I have decided that now is the time to add some homemade deadlines to the mix. Which brings me back to “Crimson Cacophony,” which lays one editing away from being ready to sent to my beta readers.

My stance on editing varies. Sometimes I love the power to remodel a story, seeing it grow stronger. In the cases I don’t know quite what the story needs, I despise editing and revising. More often than not, I dislike it. Why? First, I always seek the thrill of the new. New worlds, new magic, new fucked up characters. I’m a follower of the Shiny. Second, I have a terrible long term memory. I will write up half a novel and then forget what I wrote in the beginning, which is the primary reason why most of my novels collapse in on themselves.

The creation of a coherent plot demands me dashing to and fro between chapters like rocket propelled pendulum, which is nigh intolerable as I hate treading on the same idea, same piece of writing, same moments. Déjà vu and I are not besties. Considering that last time I edited “Crimson Cacophony” I had to pretty much make sure that the book I wrote doesn’t read like a psycho off his meds, I didn’t look forward to spending more time editing.

Yet, here I am, digital red in my mouse-wielding hand, and ready for action. This time it’s a very different sensation. I think that according to Chuck Wendig’s cake analogy I should be entering the glazing phase; what I mean is that I know the novel [a feat with my inability to even remember my cell number] and I know what it needs [apart from a publishing deal]. It needs fine tuning to the beginning and middle, then expansion of the ending, which I have rushed a lot.

Fort the particular purpose of keeping all the subplots in check, not that there are that many, but I want to ensure that consistency is maintained at all times, I’ve finally charted an Excel table to see which chapter deals with which subplots. The act of rereading each chapter and then dissecting and arranging the bits in the correct cells, give me ideas of how to weld each chapter to the following. I know that charting chapters in Excel tables is what occurs during plotting, but I’m not a plotter. I can only plot when I have a misshapen thing of a novel, with moments of awesome, which have to be stitched together. I’m almost halfway through this reading and charting. My deadline is August 10.

Then from August 11th until August 31st I will apply all the necessary changes and stretch out the ending chapters. Can it be done? Why yes, I’ve seen people complete two thirds of a book in that time. I’m positive that dealing a final editing can be achieved for that time period.

So what are your plans for August?

Saturday, April 23rd: Return to an Online Existence and Edits

I’m back and I have a brand new template. Fear me. In truth, I have been exhausted. It’s been a burnout that has been going on since the year started and I can only deal with the exhaustion in intermissions. I started a day job, one that requires going at regular office times, but have a very irregular days off scheme. Suddenly, I had to deal with handling promotion for TZF and work in an office and then came the university, which strained the balancing act.

However, I adapted to the work hours, the work I have to do as well as the time off before and after work. With this in mind, I feel like I can return back to the Internet. I’m yearning for the good old days of Twitter and Google Reader action.

Writing suffered the most, since I decided to lead a social life along with balancing two jobs. I did manage to complete Draft 4 of “Crimson Cacophony” – two months after the planned and realistic deadline – but that brings me closer to my goal. I need two more rounds of editing, one before sending it to my alpha and one after my alpha read it. Then will come mandatory beta hunting and one third final round [three total] before I start the agent hunt.

That’s long in the future, but then again I will have passed the Seven Stages of Writing. Now, “Crimson Cacophony” stands at 60,000 words [with 40,000 scratched off and done anew], but I gather that after the fleshing out I will get to 75,000 words to 80,000. I’m not saying that the wordcount is an adequate measurement of progress, but length matters [or at least that’s what she said].

How was your April, people? Did you manage to complete something?

Stories from Editland

PROJECT: Crimson Cacophony
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
STATS: Chapter 14
TOTAL WORDCOUNT SO FAR: 23, 315

PROGRESS: I'm surprisingly on schedule, which is to be admired. Though I assume it has a lot to do with the fact that I merged two chapters as I realized that I couldn't possible stretch something, which would only last for several seconds. Anyway, it's been an up and down experience so far. I do believe the direction is correct [*applause*], but getting there some days is hard.

Random Things About Editing a Novel:

1) It's a rollercoaster ride. It can be as enjoyable as the process of creating new words and it can as infuriating as the creating of new words. However, the difficulties stem from a different place. I can't say that I find editing enjoyable. My biggest lesson that I have to learn is consistency and this excludes falling head over heels over a new idea. Seriously, I've postponed editing this novel for more than three years.

2) I fear that even with editing I underwrite and will come up short with a novel. Which is a fear I transferred from first drafts. I'm highly un-mathematical. I can't think of a story and estimate its length in words. I know I underwrite and I can't estimate whether the tendency will continue.

3) While editing doesn't determine whether you fail as a writer, I do think that editing shows you whether or not you are a good storyteller [in the desired medium]. Some writers are suited to do short stories, while others fair better with novels. My opinion, editing demonstrates where one fits best. So far, I'm having a hellish time with my, which I can't estimate whether has to do with me doing it for the first time or something else. I'm positive that when I start editing my second novel I will know for sure.

Editing my Novel and the Progress so Far

The image is called 'Writer' by Rui Ricardo AND exemplifies what talented writers should be all about aka casting people shaped fires that have sex.

The grand slam editing has commenced. The butt has been in the chair [or the small, green, pitiful thing that passes as a chair in my house] and I’ve started the Manic February Editing Marathon. I would have been more regular hadn’t family elements decided to mess up my oh so glorious schedule for hours every day, which resulted in not being able to gather my wits. At the same time I developed some serious headaches, which had a lot to do with exam stress as I unwound.

Editing Preparation: I spent two days in doing a chapter by chapter breakdown for my novel. I had a most glorious idea that demands 2/3 of the current version to be rewritten fundamentally and I hate myself for doing this, but this sounds like the right direction. However, I know my relationship with the middle and decided that a chapter by chapter outline will help me avoid the saggy middle, keep pacing in check and make sure I don’t mysteriously forget one of the story threads [guilty].

I really do think that the chapter-by-chapter breakdown is a good way to overcome the issues with the middle, if you have the same problem. You also get to visually track how much work you have left [again if your chapter numbers fluctuate from revision to revision].

Progress: Not as impressive. I’ve covered the first eleven chapters. Since I’m satisfied with the first ten chapters, most of my work consisted in altering small details, insert questions and check for consistency with the new creative direction. Only chapter eleven underwent changes as I cut half of it and wrote it anew.

The current plan is to tackle chapter rewrites, taking two days for each chapter. If this plan is successful, then I can in theory be done with this rewrite by the middle of March. Suits me.

[State of the Writer] I wish I could say I wrote new words, but you know that's not the case

There is a funny thing about productivity. When you manage a great deal in just one week, you think 'hey, I can do this again and again' and lulled by this sense of security in one's own ability to combat procrastination YOU assign yourself too much to do. The inevitable result is the bitter taste of failure on your mind's metaphorical taste buds. *intense music*

Kinda like what I did to myself. If you ever want to learn how to sabotage yourself, this is it and I make a great tutorial for it. Though I was optimistic and the goals were doable. What I didn't at all consider had to be whether "Rabbit Heart" would easily give in, when it came down to edits. I knew how I wanted the story to look and to feel, yet it was static and had to be revised. Brand new opening scene and etcetra. I thought it'd be easy... Took me the whole week, around ten re-reads and making all the pages bleed with red and blue to get it right. I think at some point I had a very high blood pressure, because the story played hard to catch. But you know, after filling all the cracks and chopping off one third of the material, it was done.

Apart from that, no new story, no new chapters. Coincidentally those are my newest goals for the week.

[State of The Writer] I'm semi-rocking it

Let's see... I stated last Monday that I wanted to write a completely new short story "Rabbit Heart" for the 20 Spec Anthology. The goal has been met. At a little able 4,000 words I have a very rough draft. The issue is that there is no direction, no spine to it. The story is a cephalopod at the moment, wrapping its tentacles around every possibility without deciding on one.

This week's challenge will be inserting the spine [direction] and I have an idea on how to do that [it involves the MC's hair]. I even know how I will manage to stay below the 5,000 word restriction, which I feared I would pass. It was a very helpful post by Matt Delman [HERE] The post addresses steampunk as a genre, but it has sage advice "if it doesn't serve a purpose, get rid of it", something I need to do with my pretty descriptions.

In addition to this I want to start on my Lovecraftian horror story set in Japan.

Last week, I said that I will be editing my novel. So far Chapter 1-12 are the ones I managed to edit. Wordcount-wise that is 15,000 words in the novel. I write short chapters, because I feel that the shorter the chapters the faster the novel will be read. This illusion of a fast pace is what I need since the build-up towards the action is slow and that is a bit fatal with UF as a genre. At the least the Buffy sub-category of it [not that I am writing a Buffy story, no, I'm writing a Willow story].

Among getting on board & editing three chapters this week [modest goal because all the other chapters are written in a journal and have to be transcribed AND edited], I will have to actually administer the changes on Chapters 10 to 12, because I had to rearrange dialogue and some info-dumping AND did those on paper.

Like last week, I aim to write a story for the Friday Flash. I think people really do like my funny superhero.

BUSY week ahead. What are your plans?

I promise to say NO to my Muse and her Shinies

Pictured: The New Shiny

I promised process porn… The cogs and the wheels and the grease that make my stories tick tock. Yeah, be patient, it’s coming. Today I’ve an announcement to make. It’s a most solemn promise and has to do with my writing:

I swear to not start a novel project until it’s time for NaNoWrimo 2011. Exactly one year, if you decide to pardon my conscious miscalculation.

“But why, Harry?” cry the astonished readers.

I never ever finish anything that I start. If I do finish a first draft, then that remains unedited. If I do edit something, then I do not submit it enough or I don’t send it to beta readers to get additional feedback. It’s a catastrophe.

With my NaNo [semi]completed, I have five novel length [aspiring] manuscripts in a different state of chaos. Not to mention all the short stories I have neglected.

It’s semi-official, but here is what I want to achieve:

- Revise some novels
- Complete work on my short story collection
- Submit to more anthologies
- Revisit old and unfinished stories
- Do more Friday Flash

I will most likely make my projects and plans official, when December 1st pops up.

Anyway, tell me, do you think you radically need to change your routine and habits as well?

Things I Learned from Editing

A thing I learned from editing my short story 'Hurricane Drunk' is that I, as a writer, have to pay attention to the consistency of worldbuilding and that even that the smallest of details that rings false can snap a reader from reading whatever suspension of disbelief you have created. My long travels around the interwebs have proved the existence of such readers and now I'm reminded after stumbling on a conundrum in my own writing.

In 'Hurricane Drunk' my main character Tatyana converses with a sentient hurricane via the widely spread Morse Code. Now, in the original text I actually give the combination of dots and dashes that represent the word 'why' in Morse Code, but that is the English word in the original, English Morse Code. For those aware that Tatyana is in fact a Ukrainian/Russian name and that the witch in the hut with four chicken legs is Baba Yaga then they'd think that I tell a story set in Russia with Russian speaking characters, which is in fact what I'm doing.

It would make no sense to use then the English 'why' and translate it with the English Morse Code as that would be clashing with the consistency of the rules I established, even if I had not made them obvious. There would be always someone to spot it out [during submissions or eventually after publication], so I thought that it would be better to go with the Russian 'why' [почему for those interested] and then go with the Russian Morse Code. BUT then I'd have people wondering why so many dots and dashes one needs for a simple 'why'.

At this point I have to say I realized that this is a minor detail with little significance to the story as a whole, so I got that out of the scene. This is the second thing that I learned from editing my short story, learn when a detail is of importance to the story or not. In this case, I did not think it was important enough to follow it up.

Cheerleader Feedback

~

I edited that first chapter. Finally. Do I hear choirs singing? No? I don’t think I deserve them anyway. I have been a bad writer. A slacker, but the good part is that I know what I want. That speeds things in a nice fashion, but I still have a lot to work forward to. I passed the chapter through the mandatory first read over at my Cheerleader and I heard the good, which is that I have good writing moments [in prose, in movement of scenes, in action], and the bad, which is somehow not so scary and terrifying at the same time.

I have used the Lost model to tell this chapter: alternation between present and past, between what my character is saying happened and what really did. I apparently did not make that go too well. I am sure to fix that. I even have a few ideas on how to hint to that in the beginning. This is the relatively easiest problem to fix.
I also went back to my old keep-it-to-myself mode, where I do not seem to tell much information to the reader. My cheerleader is confused. I will not have that. Since yesterday, I have been envisioning ways to add fleshy bits here and there, so not so much as a problem in on itself really. This is my usual stingy-on-information self [or scared-to-info-dump self?] and I needed my cheerleader to help with maintaining that part of me in check. So will add these changes, before I send these to my Mega Beta [or the Axe], his trained reader-ly eye will help me with plot, pacing and other elements.

The biggest fear is establishing a connection between the reader and the characters. So far the only one to dominate the pages is the protag and she is rather the rogue solo, quite unlikeable and cold. I need to woo my Cheerleader with some characterization. She gave me the benefit of the doubt [aka the second chapter] and I must not fail her. I think this one stems from the issue I have with other novels aka dump the life tragedy of the hero immediately, but I guess that serves its purpose with readers in general and that I am a snowflake in that regard.
I am ready to tackle.