[Process Porn] Superhero Spankings in under Six Thousand Words

"Catwoman" by Kevin Wada

During the past few days I have been thinking about “Pages & Playthings” in more ways than celebrate its publication. Excitement and the thrill of writing naughty words aside, I have been thinking about the set of restrictions involved in writing the piece. Though nowhere near a BDSM dungeon, Geek Love runs on a strict set of parameters to screen through its submissions. 

The stories need a strong speculative element, a strong carnal element and feature at least one character with geeky predisposition. Although spicy, this is a very specific recipe, which needs to happen within the confines of 6,000 words, which further adds to the challenge. The writing community in general has a mixed response to prompts and themes in general, especially if they are specific ones. 

From my experience, the popular personal argument against writing with prompts deals with creativity. I've heard writers feel oppressed (for a lack of a better word and restricted already abused beyond good taste) and stories about the completed work missing that internal part of the writer's individual voice or style. To each his own, but a recent opinion I have heard voiced over Facebook is the profitability from all the hard work. I tend to agree that stories written with a single, specific intention tend to sell harder, if they were rejected, but I digress. 

What “Pages & Playthings” taught me is that prompt stories need to feel in sync and consistent. I think this ought to be a general rule in fiction, but it goes without saying that you should pay more attention to how well the prompt, the theme and your voice for this category of writing you will do. Since this is writing I'm discussing and not something exact like an algorithm, every story will be a new exploration for the Indiana Jones inside every you. 

Since I'm on the subject, I'll give you an example with “Pages & Playthings”, because I can't just seize and desist with my selfish horn-tooting (though I guess what I should have said is that I'm a Samaritan at heart). Here is how I synced and layered all three Geek Love requisites.

1. The Erotica & The Geek 

Contrary to popular belief (my references are 80's US sex comedies, so spare me), geeks aren't a race of asexual beings and they like to get into each other's pants, especially after a hard day of devoting themselves to their hobbies and interests, which is pretty much what I focused on. The bridge between the geek hobby (in case of my character, extreme aversion to reading) and the sex is the foreplay and inclusion of the physical book as a prop leading towards intercourse. The thing with erotica is that people who don't read it assume it's all about the mechanics of sex, but in fact it's all about the tease and promise of a really, really good time. Reading a hardcover for a serious bibliophile already has taken an almost sensual nature, so it's very easy for the feeling escalate after an indecent proposal.

2. The Geek & The Speculative

This has been the easiest thing to do, since culture has so many myths about the supernatural properties of books. Throwing a magic book at a book worm is hardly the toughest thing to do in any context. Since this is science fiction with horror elements, all I had to make sure is follow through a rather creepy introduction of the artifact and establish its possessive qualities. 

3. The Speculative & The Erotica 

Sex between people who happen to be superheroes is tricky business. If you write about normal sex, then you can't really use the speculative element (in this case the superheroes to any effect, other than deconstruct the idea, which has been overdone). At the same time not tying the book in with the sex creates a chasm between the erotica genre and the speculative genre. Since I had a limited wordcount, I designed super powers, which could add some spice into the sexual act to actively involve the speculative element and trigger the characterization process. Then the book itself had to be reason why these people were having sex in the first place. 

Now that these elements flow naturally into each other, the story finds its own balance and the ideas gel with each other to create one organic effect. Or at least create it after extensive editing. 

What's your experience with writing with prompts?

[February 22nd ] Weird Wednesday, Project Hiatus & Blogging Changes

I hope this sets the tone nicely

There’s been no Weird Wednesday for awhile. Oh, you noticed? How nice! I feel special and cuddly just by thinking about you guys. First, there were exams. Then, there was fatigue and chronic lack of sleep. Now, a very nasty back pain is responsible for the delays in updates in the Weird Wednesday feature.

Well, since we have gone down this thorny road, why not get with the program and expect to see something [anything really] by the mid-goddamn-summer. Cause guess what? Weird Wednesday is going in a wee bit of a hiatus, until after June. Why, you might ask?

The question is a rather simple one to answer. Because my university runs on a campaign of complete misinformation, I had to receive primary information through the rumor mill about what I as a student had to do in order to apply to work on a thesis. Mind you, I already knew what I would be writing about and have it all worked out.

However, the university set the bar higher for those, who want to apply, from 4.50 overall grade to 5.25. Of course, I’m not a straight A [6.00 in Bulgaria] student, but a firm B student [meaning my overall grade sits at 5.00 firmly]. This means that I’m not qualified to apply for thesis, which is the considerably easier way to go about graduating. The rumor mill had been going Charlie Sheen crazy about what the new qualifications were going to be. The university conveniently leaked no information about any of the guidelines for thesis, which should be so high on their priority list. The consensus among everyone is that the new head appointed in our department wants to read a lot less than previous years. It suits him to give out as less as possible information and ruin it even for those, who are eligible to apply.   

Anyway, I finally had to check for myself, whether the rumor mill was correct and honestly, since I’ve found no official information on the website, I hoped that it was all nonsense. Well, it wasn’t. So now, I’m going to be one of the misfortunate ones revising material from two years ago. I have confirmed nine disciplines I’ll have to freshen up on and five, which I’m not that sure of.

So you see why I can’t really continue with my regular, big projects, but instead of complete hiatus and going off the grid, I will just blog shorter. More snippy, snappy comments and less snore-fests of posts.

Well, dearies. Let the torturous study begin.        

[January 3rd] Scribblle Me This, The Writing Intentions

I have been thinking about the writing experience from 2011 and can say that I failed, when it came down to documenting my progress. Of course I don’t suffer from the illusion that I did all that much writing in the first place, but at the same time I can confirm that I’ve completed several flash fiction pieces, several short stories and one novel revision, which is not what a busy bee writer should have achieved. 

Oddly enough, this the title of this is "Writer's Block"

This year I start with better plans, because I believe that improvement lies within better time management, better understanding of how your life can take a turn for the worse [in terms of actual opportunity to write] or enter dead waters. Right now, I know the course of my year in a sequence of ‘green’ and ‘red’ zones right until July, when I’ll most likely graduate. If things go my way [and I get enrolled in a long distance Masters program], I’m pretty sure the rest of my year will be clear to me as well. Given all these factors, I planned for the following:

1. Complete revisions on “Crimson Anatomy” based on beta readers feedback in time for the Angry Robot open month as well as initiate an agent hunt, because it’s not all smart at all to place all your eggs in one basket. Project Timeline: January 1^st – February 29^th.

2. Complete revisions on “V is for Virus”, my futuristic super villain novel, which I’m happy to say is completed as a draft and pretty well sketched in my head, so I’ll have a very pleasant go at the revisions. Contrary to “Crimson Anatomy”, the concept for “V is for Virus” as well as the feel, the voice and the overall arc in the series have remained constant for more than a year, which is usually a good sign with me. Project Timeline: November 1^st – December 31^st. The reason for this particular timeline is because I will split the current draft into two and then have a go at writing my first 100,000 word manuscript, which oughta be hectic.

3. Start a new novel project. I’m indecisive as to which project to select. I’m tempted by the possibilities. It’ll be either my YA novel “Airboy”, whose first draft is not completed and not up to scratch at that [though I will probably have to speak to an architect to help me with the main mystery object], my high concept secondary world fantasy “White” or a retro-futuristic super hero tale of emancipation “Super Powered House Wives”. Project Timeline: August 1^st – October 31^st. This will have to happen after my European tour in late July.  

4. In general, I have written down to complete and sent to publication twelve short stories in 2012, one for each month, which I think is believable aspiration. I’m keeping tabs on three to four anthology projects at the moment, so that guarantees a third of this goal to be fulfilled. I think the main focus will fall on finishing “Lungs”, which is around 60% completed. I’m not happy with how “Rabbit Heart” turned out as a short story, so I see a novella potential in the premise. Project timeline: focus on March 1^st – Middle of May [final exam sessions begins at that point and I will be writing a thesis, so I don’t think I will have much time to consider writing anything longer].

These are the goals, which I know I can finish in ideal conditions. This means work, school and personal life remain a constant. Since they are ideals, I realize that I will manage around 60% of what I have planned, this meaning that I probably won’t reach “V is for Virus”, but it never hurts to aspire to great success, right.

This may make me appear slightly crazy [for more than one reason], but at the same time I’m curious. Do you have plans for your writing?           

[January 1st] And in the Spring I Shed my Skin

NB: I know it's far from spring, but these lyrics from "Rabbit Heart" by Florence + the Machine sum up how I feel about New Year. 

I’ve waited for January 1^st to write my End of 2011 post, because I needed to have this year behind me, if I am to discuss it. Of course, I missed on yesterday, because I prepared my short story “The Woman Who Wanted to Play Miss Havisham” for submission to Pandemonium: Stories of Smoke. I’m excited, because this will be the first proper SFF story with Bulgaria as setting I am sending out to do the submission rounds. It gives me a great thrill to have written it and include some social commentary on my own.

Most of all I have wanted to wait until January 1^st to include this cheeky picture, which does a splendid job at summing 2011 and my experience with it.

 I’m also playing Lily Allen’s “Fuck You” to emphasize how thrilled I am to say a very literal ‘Fuck you’ to the past year.

Theoretically, 2011 should have been a good year for me. I’ve landed a long term job position with all the right benefits and most importantly, steady income to help my family move along. I’m extremely grateful for finding a place in my current firm. The money ensured that we not only needn’t have wondered how to provide all the basic commodities and pay bills, but that I could contribute to paying off debts my family had for the better part of the last decade. We are not completely in the clear, yet, but I can’t stress how relieving it is not to fear the days in the calendar.

I’ve seen my wonderful, talented, loud-mouthed, wise-cracking, tough-as-nails sister through her toughest academic year, the high school entry exams, which in Bulgaria creates a shadow economy of private lessons. This is so because the education system fails to prepare pupils for the exams, which is why parents are forced to sent children to private lessons. Sometimes the monthly total exceeds what the minimum wage here is. Fortunately, my sister had teachers, who understood our situation and charged less. Now, I’m seeing my sister through her first year in the high school of her choice and I’m relieved that the next five years will be quiet in general.

Because I have steady income, I allowed myself the pleasure to plan and after years of intense wanton I realized my dream to visit a convention, which turned out to be the best experience in my life as a geek. I felt insane to be amidst all the talented people at Fantasy Con and give a handshake to the numerous people I have made acquaintances with over Twitter. It’s been madness for me and I’m immensely proud that I planned this trip on my own, executed it on my own and did not get fatally lost in the UK, which right there at the end constituted a real possibility.

As you can see, some of the big things in life are improving, yet, all of the above, I did alone. I had to work on a full work day, care for my sister [including all bureaucracy surrounding her exams, taking her to her lessons, jumping hoops, checking her homework and be for her in all her moments], work towards my Bachelor in Economics and in the meantime devote myself to the SFF community by reading, writing, reviewing and joining conversations. I still have to do all these things alone. My mother has been working on the other end of the country, while my father has disappeared completely from our lives upon the divorce. It’s my grandparents, my sister and I with me being the only adult within the age to do most of the bills and be the parent figure in my sister’s life.

Sometimes I feel trapped by all of this. Sometimes I feel remorse for feeling the first, because I have weathered a lot with my family as a unit. There are ties that run deep, strong and more powerful than I would wish them to be, because they make the possibility of a fresh start all the more complicated. Between running between these two absolutes, I have come to loathe the job that I have. I worked in the customer care department as a call centre operator and the stress led to health complications I never thought I’d be subjected to, one of them being quite the weight jump. I’ve bloated. Severely. Thankfully, I switched departments and now I’m in office heaven with so many funny, filthy-mouthed and dirty-minded peers. However, because 2011 had to be awful, a quick succession of small scale disasters happened, which I’m afraid almost broke whatever was in charge of sanity. I’m getting better, but I have never stopped asking whatever the fuck runs the show ‘haven’t you had enough’.

It comes to no surprise to say that my writing, reading and involvement in the SFF society has been minimal. I closed Temple Library Reviews, because I felt burdened by the whole thing. As always, I came to see myself as not one to fit in that mould for I set out to achieve goals, which could not be reached given the nature of my efforts. 2011 turned out to be a year of endings spring saw me part ways with Apex’s The Zombie Feed, where I worked for less than half a year. I’m extremely pleased with the results I had promoting Mark Allan Gunnells’ novella “Asylum” and Paul Jessup’s novella “Dead Stay Dead”. However, I did manage to become an assistant editor to Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s anthology project “Space Battles”, which comes out next April, and have engaged on a new editorial position, though I’m not at liberty to disclose the complete details as of yet.

On the writing front, I set out to edit “Crimson Cacophony” [now “Crimson Anatomy”] and I did to the point that it has been sent to beta readers and have critique to carry me out through a new round of edits. Other than this, I haven’t achieved anything worthwhile in terms of new words written. Projects have been started, projects have been finished [less often that I would like to], rejected or not edited to be sent out to venues, though I’m surprised I even did all of this. I even have two short stories accepted, which ought to be released some time this year. 

My reading has been disorganized and purposeless. I can’t even track the books I have done. Once I closed Temple Library Reviews, I announced it the year of Reading Unwisely and I think that this is perhaps the one goal that I realized to the fullest of its potential. I have, even so, reviewed for Innsmouth Free Press, The Portal, Rise Reviews, Pornokitsch, The World SF Blog and contributed non-fiction for Beyond Victoriana.

This past year gobbled me up, minced me with its teeth and spat me out. Given my crap track record, I have no reason to hope that 2012 will be any better, but I have my hopes, I have my plans and I’m a firm believer in the power of change. Even if it is only a principal change, I revel in the moment, when in less than a fraction of a second 2011 ceases to exist and then it’s a brand new year. I don’t live so much for the promise of the year being better as I do to bury the corpse of the last year.

All that shit above, hey, that was last year. The calendar is burning in the hearth, the evil has been exorcised, the bad is forgotten, the hard drive has been defragmented and the good has been backed up for the shitty days of the Blue Screen of Death. So I’m happy, fresh and the awfully archaic naïve and hopeful person, who has no place in this world, but here I am and at the moment, I feel like 2012 will be like this:      

     Art by Tsvetka aka Ink-Pot

[November 24th] On Writing Longhand and the Importance of Words

I’ve not spoken about writing in a long time, because I consider the craft of writing as a rather personal experience. My main understanding is that every story is different and every writer is unique in his/her thoughts, inspirations and techniques are strictly individual. From where I’m standing, I’d rather not dish out advise. There are plenty of websites, which provide you with countless posts on the technical aspects of writing. Magical Words serves advice like a petite French restaurant; compact portions sculpted to beauty. Chuck Wendig overtakes the table as an Italian seven course meal, calorie rich and dripping sauce.

In that metaphor, what am I? I’m just a story in the kitchen and I’m fine to be one. Recently, I had to switch from writing on the keyboard to writing longhand, because my day job demands me typing. The implications are two-fold. First, my fingers are already tired from hitting away at the keys and second, my brain associates this time of writing as a chore*. Writing as an act and a process, sitting down and typing words, grew to be tedious and my ideas, no matter how bright and shiny and witty suffered, when it came to give them shape. 

Write or Die is an excellent software, if your brain has already swollen with the pregnancy of a story, which your fingers desperately want to deliver, but not when your story has its own umbilical cord tied around its neck. I needed c-section and writing longhand functioned as such**. Yes, now everything is a thousand times slower. Yes, I have to actually make more time to write the same amount of words I crank out for an hour. But. The big But. I place the right words, I add texture to my story I can’t do when facing the white screen or race with my fingers, because everyone types faster than they write. Sometimes it’s all about the physical presence of the notebook that helps me get my idea out. 

I’m feeling a bit guilty that I’m choosing impracticality over efficiency, which doesn’t make sense. It’s irrational. This sense of guilt is stupid, because it implies that you’re racing against something or someone. Is writing a race? Well, kinda. It’s a race against death. Everything is racing with death. Everything knows that it’ll lose a race with the big, underlined and bolded THE END; it’s more of a matter of how much gets done. This brings me down to the devil: quantity and boy do we know about quantity. Word counts, word meters and the month of the word count tracking NaNoWriMo***. 

Quantity is a fixation. In “Booklife” Jeff VanderMeer pins this quest for wordcount as a goal that is hollow, pardon, I’m paraphrasing from memory. VanderMeer spends some time to the importance of the right words and his points are excellent. While I understand how setting a goal, which has to do with getting a set number of words down, helps track progress, this is a ‘surface’ progress. First drafts become our arenas to suck and fail, but I feel as though advice to allow yourself to fail during first drafts is misinterpreted as ‘suck, but just get it out, doesn’t matter how much you do suck’. In my mind, this conspiracy theory emerges, where this predominant attitude about sucking has joined this fetish for metric measurements in a craft, which is not meant to welcome math****. 

The right words matter even in a first draft, because later on, during revisions, you’ll find that you have a solid first draft that needs little modifications on a linguistic level. That the prose actually helps you find the right direction for the story and relatively ease your journey in the land of Edits. Sometimes you can suck too much to know how to fix a story. And all the time you saved dashing through your first draft [and more] will go into your editing. 

What do you do when crafting first drafts? Do you stop to think or go where the hands take you? 

----

*I’d like to take the opportunity to distance away from my brain as we never have seen eye to eye on a various subjects. 

** I disturbed myself with this metaphor, so I will stop with it. 

*** Dudes, I’m far from criticizing NaNo for anything else. I still believe in its key value, to tech persistence and consistency when writing. 

**** I hate math, so there you go.

[Nomber 19th] State of the Writer

I've been silent a bit more than intended and it's high time I share some insight on what's going on with plans and projects that I'm running.

Writing-wise I've completed the rough draft of "Girl with One Eye" and am two thirds in the first draft of "A Kiss with a Fist", though both have been tough to write. After reading about Paul Jessup's disenchantment with conventional storytelling, which expects a natural progression from point A to point B [resolution wrapped in a pretty colored bow], the stories I've written are divorced from this notion. There is no challenge to occupy the character's life and demand a swift resolution [well, there is, but it's not central to the story]. I like to think I'm in exploration of life as a series of things that happen to a person and the reactive element in human nature.

The difficulty with these stories in particular stem from the fact that both of the narrators don't have eyes for the beauty in their surroundings and in their lives as well, which demands more modest and transparent prose. After the sophisticated and richly ornate prose in "Crimson Cacophony" it came to be a shock to my system. Another hurdle comes from my aversion to using the keyboard, when I create, mainly because my day job demands I spent eight hours per working day typing, which saps my creative desire to write my first drafts on the computer. 

And no matter how useful "Write or Die" has been in nailing down first drafts in record time, I can't use it when my brain is against the idea to tap on keys after work. I didn't know what the problem was [I thought I was being lazy], until I sat down to at least try and outline a scene. The result: I very convincingly wrote in my vision of the story on paper. Longhand, no matter how strenuous on my arm, is how I'll forge on with my short story projects from here on.

So what have you been working on? 

[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.

[August 19th] There is a difference from bird of prey to bird of prey

Two days ago I finished reading Birds of Prey, volume 2. I'm a huge fan of Gail Simone and this is the sole DC series, I was able to follow without having to read multiple others. The first volume, which ran from 1999 to 2009 turned into my all time favorite series. The reason: an almost all female ensemble cast from the brawn to the brains to the designated driver. I love female super heroes and it has little to do with pubescent male wish fulfillment, but more with the strong ties in my childhood, when I was exposed to the Magic Girl anime sub-genre.

Since those days a woman in a costume fighting crime/evil supernatural menaces strikes a very deep, creative cord in me. Birds of Prey came to me as a refreshment in a testosterone filled spandex universe and fully embraced the concept of a female warrior. It works. The first volume under Simone did and the second volume under Simone did. Whenever the series was written by a man, it kinda did click with me much. Not say that men can't write female characters. Paul Dini did a fantastic job with Gotham City Sirens, although that title felt more sexual and naughty.

Now, with the DC Universe reboot or relaunch or whatever they are calling it these days, a writer other than Simone will be heading the series. I'm not familiar with Duane Swierczynski's work, but he sure ain't no Gail Simone. The worst offense the people at DC did was mess with the cardinal cast:

Oracle will no longer be Oracle, but a very mobile Batgirl. I'm not sure whether the series will survive without Oracle, because it was because of Oracle's mind games that each issue blew me away. The intricate cat and mouse games, the deception and infiltration and double crossing. Without Barbara Gordon as the mastermind behind this operation, the Birds of Prey will be just like any other superhero team. And that is sad.

There will be no Huntress, no Zinda... Only the Black Canary, who also got a costume redesign I'd not wish on my worst enemy. Can any one recognize Dinah? I sure, almost, couldn't. Then we have Katana, whom I care for none. A new character, who may be of some interest and then Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy suffers again from a superhero fashion faux pax, but I think that the change from a villain to a semi-hero would be interesting to see. Almost like a mirror version of what Huntress was, a hero tip toeing to the dark side from time to time.

Either way, it's a shame that the guys at DC didn't at the very least keep artist Stanley Lau, who produced all the beautiful covers for volume two:

Will I love volume three? Possibly not... The very least I can give it a chance and see whether Ivy might not make it bearable.

------
I'm back on the editing train. I'm two days behind and by the looks of it, I will possibly miss my deadline. I've finished the chapters I'm happy with and will now write brand new ones, inserting the very menacing agent Thater. Ouch.

Project: Crimson Cacophony
Chapters Edited: 20
Words total: 37,303/90,000 (with 30,000 to add)
Chapters left: 16 (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 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?

Monday, May 2nd: Tracking Wordcounts and Bulgarian Steampunk

Today's fantastic picture portrays the Punisher as a samurai; this is the cover for an issue of the "5 Ronin" mini-series that Marvel published not long ago. The series itself leaves things to be desired, but as a whole the re-imaginings were clever.

It’s my intention to write. Whenever there is a slight possibility to sit down and even write 50 words, I intend to use it. It’s a difficult concept for me to put in practice as I’ve accustomed myself to a leisurely, scholarly schedule. With the new office, I’ve graduated into reality and I see what time deficiency means in earnest. I’ve no idea how people can juggle responsibilities outside their day jobs and still find the energy to write. Perhaps, writing itself is not the real lesson [although I know that’s the core of it], but actually applying the butt-in-chair principle.

Some days I can afford to come home in the right mood [with the right energy level] to sit and create, but more often than not I’ve duties in the morning, duties at work and then duties after work [which when combined drain me]. Sadly, the solution is not coffee, people; I need a lot more of a punch than that.

Anyway, moving on. I’ve decided that I want an Excel Spreadsheet as a means to track down my progress – the spreadsheet love is a brand new work-spawned development – and so far it helps. I can see the shame of not having butt-in-chair on top of my priorities, which leads to more ‘write first, watch tantalizing moving pictures later.’

The newest project I’m working on is called “Dog Days are Over,” based on Florence + The Machine’s song of the same title, though the direction I’ve taken it is rather bizarre. There is sex, there are ghosts and there is Bulgaria. I’ve decided to try and base a story in Bulgaria, which more or less fits the type of female character [with the type of ‘morale’] I want to write. The issues I’m facing are pretty much on whether the sex I write is because I enjoy it or if it really belongs in there.

1791 / 4000 words. 45% done!

In other news, I’ve a sporadic article appear in Beyond Victoriana. It’s an opening for a whole series, about Bulgaria, its history during the Victorian era and the potential the time period has for Steampunk to branch in. Here is a small snippet:

It’s impossible to mention Bulgaria, look it through the prism of the past and not discuss war.

For Bulgarians know war in all of its forms. Back when the Bulgarian Empire existed, we conquered. Afterwards, we fought wars to defend what we’ve claimed. We fought once again to earn our freedom, when we fell under multiple slaveries. Once liberated, we fought to unite and even today we fight; small personal battles and wars against reality, against each other and, in private, ourselves.

Queen Victoria’s rule coincides with Bulgaria’s most turbulent historical period. During her 64 years on the throne, Bulgarians organized several major upheavals, created an organized resistance, fought wars for liberation and achieved their goals. Once transitioned from slaves to free people with a country, Bulgaria had to rebuild itself from scratch,write a constitution and catch up with the rest of the world.

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?

[#NaNoWriMo] My Eyes, My Eyes

Self-Portrait, made this morning, before shaving and coffee. You can tell my eyes are bit not all that great

I’m in a bit of a crunch at the moment. Turns out I need to write several reviews in the very near future [this happens because I manage my schedule so well] and the materials I have to read are not yet read. I also discovered that my lack of productivity as of late is not because of sleep deprivation. No, turns out my eyes are yet again weary of being in front of the screen all the time. That couple with the fact that I need to type my reviews and that my review copies for five or six reviews are PDF files don’t make this any easier. High on the grocery list at the moment is securing eye drops.

Anyway, my calculations indicate that I’ll be able to accomplish my goal of reaching 50,000 words without a mad dash to the finish [like last year, where I had to write around 30,000 words in less than two weeks]. “V is for Voltage” is progressing nicely. I have two villains, who somehow have to be even more villainous than my characters [who plan to establish a super powered evil organization] and it’s fun to write dastardly characters. The world has not yet fully formed on technological level, so I may be taking some liberties with what my guys can do at the moment, but so far sex seems to be maintaining the economy and it makes sense, I swear that it does. The way I have planned for things to go, I need to write between 2K and 3K daily to make it, but it’s totally manageable.

TOTAL: 28, 456 words [which is totally weak]

[NaNoWriMo] Day 14: Barely Holding the Front

REVISION: Crimson Cacophony
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
STATS: Chapter 4 [1,509 words]
TOTAL: 6,519
PROGRESS: Slow as hell. I had to drop everything and focus on my university life for a moment, because I had a test, an essay and a presentation to complete. The edits were the first of the long list of casualties this week. The chapter today was incredibly easy to edit. It's still one of the highly polished ones and thankfully, one that did not demand a better presentation of worldbuilding elements. I did tweak one or two sentences that better represent Samantha as the truly wicked person that she is [in all senses].

NANO: V is for Voltage
GENRE: Science Fiction / Super Hero
STATS: Finished scene 12 [1, 718 words]
TOTAL: 17,061
PROGRESS: I know my characters. I know why they are monsters... but somehow the whole SF futuristic vibe has left me struggling as to how to portray them. I seem to flourish more, where the dark, old fantasy settings are. Heh. I guess I will struggle with that. Basically I get to the point, where all four narratives are online, but I'm not satisfied with how monstrous my characters are. I've decided to sit down re-plot and start expanding on the beginning. I need some battles. After all this is a super hero [villain] novel with monstrous characters and monsters do monstrous deeds. So far I have been doing a lot of exposition.

[NaNoWriMo] Day 7: Week Gone-By

REVISION: Crimson Cacophony
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
STATS: Chapter 3 [824words]
TOTAL: 5,010
PROGRESS: I have neglected work on the revisions, because time ran short and I had to slot in the new words. I had a hard time with chapter two. From the present I jump back with three days and my immediate critique partner says that it's puzzling to a point. I'm brainstorming ways to show that change and make it understandable. Now, had this been a TV series, perhaps LOST, the viewers would have get that, but in writing it has to be better cemented. I do use the header where I point at the change of date and setting, but it's not enough. Thankfully, I managed to get the worldbuilding elements fitted in without creating confusion. Chapter three has been bliss to edit. I may need to revise how a Goth would express herself, but so far I can't complain.

NANO: V is for Voltage
GENRE: Science Fiction / Super Hero
STATS: Finished scene 5 + scene 6 [2,674 words]
TOTAL: 10,437
PROGRESS: The ride has been bumpy. I missed two days, because my brain went haywire with a lot of real world things vying for attention. I missed two days, which results into 2K loss. Because I also have no clear idea how to move the novel and establish the characters with individual voices, I have been slacking in writing, because it takes a lot longer to get it done. So far, I have an idea to focus their attention on the thing that the parents seriously messed up in their kids and use that. But that is going slow and still have no general outline, which took 2K more from my goal. Anyway. I'm not entirely lost. It's still early on. Worldbuilding is going fine. The society of the future is my problem. I just know that religion is the biggest no-no and that there are no last names or any gender/age/racial discrimination. The goal is efficiency. BUT how the heck is a modern man/woman to dress, talk and walk... Eh, that is giving me issues.

[NaNoWriMo] Day 1: Setting the Pace

It's been day one of the madness I have planned for the month [writing and editing]. Although I spent the most of the day doing research and writing my paper in Comparable Economic Systems [my topic: The effects of non-economic factors on the US economy], I started on the edits and the actual words. Here is the run-down.

REVISION: Crimson Cacophony
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
STATS: Chapter 1 [1,489 words]
PROGRESS: I have worked on the first nine chapter meticulously, because I wanted a perfect beginning at the time, so the work here was relatively light. I had to fix some small grammar mishaps, change the setting [because interrogation rooms have changed from the 80s]. I'm not sure if I like the dialog, but my protagonist has established her voice [my beta loves her already], so it's good for now.

NANO: V is for Voltage
GENRE: Science Fiction/Super Hero
STATS: Chapter 1 [2,035] < I planned for 3K, but that can be easily caught up with
PROGRESS: I introduce one of the protagonists, Adrian, who will be know as Voltage or Mr. V. He will be the center of this book, so his messed up childhood is important. I'm excited to write him, because he's a married homosexual, drug smuggler, emotional and not beautiful or at least bland, he's physically on the freakish side [a departure for me, since I idelyze the human physique]. I enjoyed writing the death bed scene of his mother and the fight with his father, which results in using super powers for a brief moment. What bothers me is that I started writing in 1st person POV, when this is a multiple character novel. I need to convert...

How did you start NaNo? DO tell.