[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?

[August 3rd] Knighst of Badassdome

I've learned a hard lesson, never ever to trust cinematic trailers. Don't you think they are a siren song, which lures cash out of your pocket, but then turn into a swan song for the movie, once you watch it... on the big screen... especially if it's in 3D.

Yet, I can't ignore Summer Glau, Peter Dinklage and Ryan Kwanten. That's having some bits and pieces from Dollhouse, Game of Thrones and True Blood in one movie. The premise for "Knights of Badassdom" is ridiculous for a B-movie, enough to be a fun and mindless flick:



Do you think it will manage to entertain? And don't you think that there is a rather interesting trend in movies to focus on LARP? Not that every movie has a focus on LARPers, but the movie industry is definitely sinking their teeth into this section of geek culture.

[August, 2nd] In which July sucked

I’m going to have yet another of those whiny posts, sharing just what I have been up to this July. I owe nothing but full transparency of my actions, trials and tribulations, which have so heartlessly prevented me from exercising my constitutional rights to forsake my real time life in the pursuit of online happiness.

In this moment of time, had I been a character I’d be the fat old lady in a corset, whose always a bit tipsy, always a bit swaying to either side and not always with her full set of marbles. She would be prone to sighing and drawing dramatic gestures with her fan. Yes, I am in fact the 18th century version of your drunken grandma. Deal with it.

July spared no mercy. I braved through the obligatory 48 hour summer flu, which whacked me senseless during the weekend. Then I spent two weeks getting fillings at the dentist, which meant sleepless nights due to the aching tooth. In those days, you learn that painkillers can and are willing to be your bestest friends in the whole wide world. Summer also meant crazy times at the office.

Despite all that, I’m quite happy. I fulfilled my beta reading duties for Theresa Bazelli, half of them anyways. In between that, I crammed in some reading, though for that I’ll present a very detailed report later on. Surprise, surprise I started final revisions on “Crimson Cacophony”, you know that novel I started in 2008 and kinda avoided to revise and edit.

August abounds with promise. Let’s just I don’t screw things up.

So what are your plans for August?

[July 12th] Slaves and Stories

I've had an amazing weekend, which involved the beach at day time and the beach at night time with drinks. Monday involved ironing, so no blog posts, but I do have things to share.

First, an article I wrote for Beyond Victoriana has gone live over the weekend. I discuss the creation of the fiercest Ottoman special ops division in their military, the enichari corps, which consisted of abducted Christian children brainwashed into loyal soldiers:

"Enichari Corps: Slaves in the Ottoman Empire"

When I agreed to write the series about Bulgaria under the Ottoman rule as a suitable stage for the steampunk genre, I underestimated the challenge these articles present. I want to deliver a portrayal of a complicated and cruel span of five centuries in Bulgarian history. At the same time I’m dealing with controversial and sensitive material, given that the Ottoman occupation has hindered Bulgaria’s access to Europe during the time of the Industrial Revolution.1

Even more so, given that this article deals with the cruelest tactic from the Ottoman empire to ensure its armies never lacked man power, while at the same time assured the assimilation of all conquered lands: the ‘enichari’ corps. 2. The word ‘enichar’ means ‘new soldier’ and refers to an Ottoman military class, which consists from non-Muslims. During the 14th century, the Ottoman conquests resulted in a sizeable amount of conquered territories and the aching need to expand the empire’s armies.

In other news, I'm back to submitting stories. "Hurricane Drunk" has been sent without alterations, but I tidied some moments in "Cosmic Love" before sending it out. At this point I'm not harboring any hopes to get both accepted, having no active hope is the best case scenario, when sending shorts in my opinion.

[July 9th] 10,000 views

Hold the presses. Hold the presses.

The blog has made 10,000 views, which considering how often I updated is nothing short than perplexing. Thank you all, thank you all and keep coming. You never know. I may actually say something smart that may be of use sometimes.

Until then, enjoy some fine humor from Deadpool:

PS: Insert 'congratulations' and well wishes in the comment section below.

[July 8th] Soundtracks

"I may or may not have an addiction..." ~ artist is Gnato

I'm into TV shows as you may or may not know [I even need a spreadsheet to stay atop of what episode of what TV show I need to get to] and the magic of the TV show is the title sequence with its own soundtrack. As I child, whenever the extended title sequence started I'd pose along with the main cast and just imagine I am part of the story. With some title sequences I might still do that [*cough*True Blood*cough*], but you know, alone and such.

To me the soundtracks and title sequences are for TV shows what gorgeous covers are for books, a sensory hook that lures you into digesting the content waiting past that point. As covers reveal a bit about the book [scantily clad women in UF covers usually refer to a sexually charged story line] soundtracks set the tone for the TV show.

Here I've prepared two reworked themes from two shows that I follow. The one is an orchestra arrangement of the old 80s X-Men cartoon [which I adored as a kid as it got me into comics in the first place]. The original theme is rather goofy as 80s cartoon themes oughta be, but Jason Sturgill gives it the Inception make-over and now it rocks.



The next is an acoustic/electric violin cover of The Game of Thrones theme, which I adore in its original composition, but also enjoyed tremendously in this version.



Do you agree with me? Also what are your favorite themes from a TV show? My all-time favorite has to be Fringe with its booming and demanding theme.

[July 7th] The Project Merry-Go-Round

“My life is like that, but only less fabulous and the carousel has a jet pack strapped to the horsey.”

I crack open an imaginary book. The spine creaks, the dust avalanches down the hardcover and pools around the yellowed pages. Yes, it’s been that long since I’ve opened this book and the guilt feels as though my body is under a siege of spiders. The book is filled with titles, the titles sit neatly stacked one below the other and much like literary accountancy, numbers have nested in flocks.

The pages stare back in accusation that I’ve probably forgotten the Defoesque title I’ve given it at the start. It certainly sat through without supervision long enough to accuse me of neglect and much like a horcrux schemes against me, meticulously cataloguing my ideas, curving c’s into vicious vertical smiles.

I’m of course referring to the “Book of Unfinished Works that I really want to write, submit and subsequently publish for the sake of my sanity and satisfaction” or in other words the to-do list of the projects that I really need to get to, if I want to tell people I’m a writer with a straight face.

The first thing I’ve written in months is nonfiction for Beyond Victoriana as part of my series on Bulgaria, its history and its application for the steampunk genre. “Slaves in the Ottoman Military” deals with the sensitive topic of the Ottoman practice to forcefully take young boys from Christian families in order to turn them into an elite fighting squad for the sultan called the ‘enichari.’ The article will go live on Sunday.

I’m interested to pursue my interests in writing nonfiction again. Only the librarian gods know how many books I’m interested in reviewing [old habits die hard] and I’ve also volunteered to join the crew of the World SF blog [after yet another seducing invitation from Lavie Tidhar], but only as a very occasional contributor. On the minus side, I’m no longer working at Apex’s The Zombie Feed and handling their Twitter feed or marketing. I’m good at it [even though I learned that I like zombies, but don’t breathe them to be excellent at it] and in order to do a satisfactory job I need more time and energy on a daily basis, which I don’t possess.

Fiction-wise, I’m way behind. The ‘edit my way through all the short stories’ isn’t going well at all. I find some are lacking a small piece to make them work, others need expansion and I am not sure if I don’t need to write a brand new story for the same concept. So that makes six stories to edit, nine to write and a novella to finish. Not to mention getting to my novel, if I’m to submit it this year.

What have you been all up to yourselves?

[July, 4th] When incarceration ends

"Somewhere, someone is throwing this and yelling 'popcorn nova'!"

I’ve been planning to write this blog post for fifteen days, yet, I don’t find the right moment. I either sleep in and then have to do house work before actual work or I’m too exhausted after work to write anything. June has come and gone and thank the calendar gods for that mercy.

In short this is what happened in no particular order.

1] I had four exams, for which I had to study early in the mornings before work and then late in the evenings after work [though to be honest, I fell asleep immediately after work]. This is the main bulk from my trial during June. Study and work, as any starving artist will tell you, don’t complement each other, when you realize the day has 24 hours instead of 48. However, I crawled out victorious from it all. Three Bs and an A, hooray.

2] I got sick twice in June, with two weeks respite before the second viral infection had me all shivering and shaking. It’s tough trying to bring down a fever [I get 39.5 C fevers or for my US friends, 103 degrees Fahrenheit]. I had to postpone one exam until a later date and felt like a digested squirrel in the stomach of a boa constrictor.

3] June also entailed dealing with my sister’s enrollment in a high school, which in Bulgaria is a weird ritualistic process, involving witchcraft, voodoo and lots of tests. The gist of it is that all students compete for a spot in a high school of their choosing with exams and their school grades. All you anime lovers, who’ve ever followed a high school series, you know what I’m talking about. This involved waiting for exam results, prepping necessary admission papers, submitting such papers and waiting to hear about the enrollment.

PS: My sister’s been successfully enrollment in her dream school, studying French.

4] I think really have a four, but please size up the previous three. It’s a formidable list for any person to handle. I’m happy it’s over. I can focus on my hobbies.

What does this mean? For one writing, for another more involvement in literary projects and a lot stronger online presence. However, I will share what I’m up to tomorrow.