Obviously

I have not been reporting as much. I have come to a conclusion. I am an extrovert, not an introvert, which can be a real problem for a writer. I can write things that people WANT me to write, even if it is only one person. I'm a very 'energy efficient' extrovert.

The novel I'm writing with Ken, #4, now has a revamped outline and I'm going to be writing Chapter 41 (my half) this weekend. It will have 55 chapters in all and will be a pretty kick ass book if I don't say so myself.

Keeping goals is important....but honestly? Book 6 and 7 very well might be non fiction. We'll see.

My solution to the potentially stillborn Novel #5 might be to join a writer's group. I'll post as to how things go as time progresses.

Reposted, because its true.

Also, I have completed Chapter 40 of Novel 4 and Chapter 6 of novel 5.

Grenademan Vs. The Zombies - Chapter 6

Includes author note at the end.

(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

Grenademan Vs. The Zombies - Chapter 5

Behold Chapter 5 of Grenademan Vs. The Zombies in which the Circle Expands its numbers by holding a horror convention and inviting others to join to help them fight against the impending apocalypse.

Also I’ve completed Chapter 39 in Novel 4 and Chapter 5 in Novel 5.

(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

Grenademan Vs. The Zombies - Chapter 4

(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

I have also completed Chapter 4 of Novel 5.

Grenademan Vs. The Zombies - Chapter 3

Grenademan VS. The Zombies - Chapter 3.
(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

I have also finished Chapter 3 of Novel 5 and Chapter 38 with Ken in Novel 4.

GMVZ Chapter 2

(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

Due to a few personal matters, I have been unable to write anything else this week. But here is the second chapter of GMVZ.

Grenademan Vs. The Zombies - Chapter 1

(Removed the podcast link because I shut it down on 11/15/09)

Warning! Does contain swearing.

This is an experiment to see how this goes.

Also, Ken and I are on Chapter 37/38 of Novel 4.

I am at 5000 words on Novel 5.

Dammit.

2200 words.

Somehow I have to get the drive back to write again. I can feel that there is a great story here. I can feel it but I can't get it out.

There has to be a way.

Behind

But still going forward.

1800 words.

5th Novel Started

I have decided that because there were tech elements in the setting anyway, after seeing how much on the rise Steam Punk is at Dragon Con, I am making the fifth novel Steampunk. I went back and forth a lot about what I was going to write at all, and there are elements of the first plot that I've been planning this year that I just flat out tossed out, but might go back to. We'll see.

So far I'm 1000 words into the story and I like what I have so far.

Writing

It seems the powers that be may want me to write this thing after all. I initially lost my red note book but was lucky enough to find it again. Rather, a kind but anonymous soul brought it to the Decatur police department who contacted me a few days later. While it caused a lot of mental anguish, in the end, no harm was done. Though it did make it rather difficult to write much.

I've finished Chapter 35 and 36 in the Precyber novel and am currently working on Chapter 37. I'm hoping to finish it tonight since otherwise I'll be a week behind.

As far as Novel 5 I have some definite things in mind and am still on track to start writing it as soon as Dragon con is over.

I am not submitting the second novel to any publishers at the moment since with the combination of stress from the movie we're working on and being unemployed I don't think I could stomach any rejections.

One step at a time and all that.

Writing Status

Things go well. Thus far, I have started on Chapter 36 and the plot arc for the fifth novel. Chapter 35 is written (well my half) and I'm nearly done with the plot seed ideas for the 2nd round of 25 stories.

Slow but steady progress

There is a part of me that is tempted to ramp up the starting time for this, but I think the extra month will be good for its development (5th novel.) I have missed some of my self imposed deadlines, but I'm doing important work in my head. I'm starting to get clearer ideas about the characters, and I'm hoping to do the actual formal profiles tomorrow, the arc next week and the chapter by chapter summary the week after that. I'll probably use the remaining two weeks to bang out some finishing touches on setting details, which I will share on here (for all two or three of you that care at the moment.)

Chapter 34 has been finished in the pre-cyber novel.

Some progress

The historical map is done. The map of Glashause is done. I have started the profiles. I'm more or less on track on the new schedule but I need to still write my part of Chapter 34 in the Precyber novel.

No word on Grenademan Vs. the Zombies or Micronation.

Update

Had to take a mental health day yesterday and only got two hours of sleep last night. Things are better though, but I'm going to have to use something older for the writing group, which I hate, but it will do me some good if they can help me figure out how to polish the thing.

Chapter 33 done in Precyber. Historical maps finished. Fail on the Glashause map. I'll do it over the weekend.

New Plan

Same as the old plan. But better.

My father is an engineer and has an MBA. I, conversely, as a child was a royal hellion...no, not in the cool burn things down at random breaking things kind of way, but more of a supreme dork attention getting nerd's nerd kind of way. Perhaps Essence of Dork is a better way of putting it....

But my father kept trying to come up with systems to solve the problem. Most of them never really worked. Some did, and those stuck in my mind. I learned two lessons...plans can be useful but you have to stick to them over time. And I also learned that too many plans can be worse than no plans at all.

But since I'm the one making the plan for myself, I know that I worked better in an organized environment, but that my plans have to have enough flexibility to meet the real world, and be something I'm actually willing to do. Setting specific time windows for myself to do something tends to work really well...such as mentally preparing to sit down and write 1000 words a day from September 8th through Jan 8th until I have 120000 words is pretty easy. At least for me. I know because I've written before, I've set quotes for myself before and it works.

Conversely, saying "I'm going to write a story a week" is a lot harder, because the only real audience I have is either editors who often reject it, or a writing group who meets once a month whose capacity of which I can far exceed. The other primary difference is that I plan to write at least seven novels before I 'give up' and self publish (which isn't necessarily giving up anyway) whereas with the short stories I already reached my goal of 25 stories a while ago, so coming up with new ones takes an angle. For me, it takes a tangible, enjoyable accomplishment that's independent of the writing itself.

Its just what I have to do to make myself write.

But coming up with a plan to do something I've never done before isn't quite as easy, so the lesson I've learned is start vague and get more specific. I've never architected a novel before. I've made meta settings before, lots of them, but my novels were really chiseled out of stone rather than built one step at a time, but I really want to try and do it this way.

So, here is the new new new revised schedule.

July 11th - Finish historical world maps.
July 14th - Create map of Glashause
July 17th - Finish historical map of Glashause
July 20th - Create written profiles for the Giant, the Girl, the Poison, Protagonist X and Y, as well as Antagonist X....(I'm looking at this and thinking I may already be too complicated again.)
July 24th - Finish character profiles.
July 27th - Write basic plot Arc.
July 31rst - Finish plot Arc with one or two sentence summaries for each chapter.

I don't even know what I'll spend August doing, but I'll track progress here even if I don't yet fill in the details.

Chapter 32 of the Pre cyber novel is complete. Chapter 33 will be finished by or on Sunday.

A peice of advice

Do not accidentally use the same email twice on a carefully crafted query letter to an agent when you are selling your book. I submitted "Micronation" to five agents today, but accidentally sent one agent's email to another. That probably won't go over very well. :/

Should finish with Chapter 32 of the precyber novel tonight.

We had the writing group meeting this last Saturday. Rita and Julie's stories were quite interesting but in the interest of confidentiality, I'm not going to mention much detail. Julie is very good at writing texture and characterization and Rita is very good at detail and narration. I managed to finish Air, but in retrospect I'm not so sure that I'm going to use it as an independent story.

But it was very helpful in drilling down the details on the elves for the Fantasy novel.

Status

Some preparations in writing the novel but it is slow. There is a very good chance I may have to go pell mell into this thing just like I have most every other novel I've written....and if that's the case I can't see how I'll ever be that good. All of the REALLY good writers take notes and do things meticulously.

But it is better to write it than not to write it. :/

Still haven't finished air yet but I will have to by Saturday. Do or die as it were.

I've written another poem for the pod cast, 4 pages or so called "The Witch Queen." I may like another title for it. I'll have to think on it.

Precyber is at Chapter 30 and the goal is to be at Chapter 32 by Sunday.

Finally

I've finally finally started on notes for the novel. Its been pretty slow going, and I think part of it was that typing it all in here just wasn't working for me, so I've been working on the notes by hand in the early morning. So far, I have a rough map of the second age, and I'm going to keep working on that until I have the big map and then make Glashause, where most of the novel will take place.

I'm also starting with the basics of the plot, and so far I have four threads which will require a bit more definition, but its a start. I hope to get an outline done, because one way or another, come Tuesday the 8th of September I keep going at 1000 words a day for 120 days non stop until I have a novel...or at least the first chunk of one.

Precyber is at Chapter 30 at this point, but I have a lot of edits I have to turn into Ken.

Thinking about starting two more poems, but I haven't decided what they should be at this point. We'll see.

Decision

I've been going back and forth for the last month about whether or not I still wanted to do the fantasy novel in September or something else. There was a strong desire in my mind for a plan in which I basically finished the twelve stories and then and only then did the fantasy novel, but its not working out that way. The stories are taking too long, and as interesting as the setting is so far, I'm thinking the only way to make this work is to just leap in and do it.

So starting every morning for the next three months until Dragoncon, my goal is to type in something more about the world and the plot in hopes of getting things laid out as much as possible before I start. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I'm still writing the 12 stories, finishing with Air.

I finished chapter 29 of the Precyber novel, and hope to finish Chapter 30 this week. Ken and I have a goal to finish it by the end of the year.

Writing

Very little accomplished. I hope to finish Chapter 29 of Precyber and Noir Femme Fetal tonight.

I'll also probably do 400-500 words for Air.

More thoughts tomorrow.

This week

Got 3000 words of air done for the Writer's group tonight, hope to write 1500 more before we meet and finish the story.

3 out of the 4 poems are done, but only two of the four initial actors are responding, though fortunately I've been pinged by a few others who might be able to replace them.

Writing Progress

I've realized that I was in a creative funk. As such, I've tabled the larger projects I was working on for four longer poems for my podcast. I intend to finish these by the end of the week and they're going well. Right now, these projects include; Ravenesque, a poem about Frankenstein's teenage daughter; Accounting Error, a poem designed to emulate the 19th century metaphysical poems about a man who is his own island and has to make an epic decision; Noir, Femme Fetal - A poem paying omage to the noir films of 1930's such as Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon, and another one about a woman coping with the loss of her child. I haven't got a title for that one yet.

I also finished chapter 26 of novel 4 last week.

Notice the common theme yet?

Fail. Followed by a side of fail, followed by more fail. I've been in a writing funk lately, for a variety of reasons, among the which is...personal. Needless to say writers get their energy and creative vitality from a lot of places and some of mine have been stressed lately.

I'm shaking things up a bit and am going to focus on writing some poems for my podcast. I've had some voice actors express interest in reading some of my stuff. I'm writing the short story for the writing group later, though I'll still keep up work on the 4th novel.

Fail so far

I've gotten very little written, but I felt bad about my progress on a lot projects...but I'm feeling better now, so I anticipate the next week will yield much better results.

Goals Resolved

School has forced me to refocus my priorities in writing but not give them up. I reviewed my goals at the beginning of the year, and of the 12 stories I originally wanted to create for the Fulcrum novel, I've done 2. The writing group helps some with that, since they've reviewed a half written second and I also did a fantasy story I'd been working on for a while, but I still want to finish all 12 before I start the novel in August, although I will also have to finish and plan the novel in August, so I plan to do 1 of these stories a week until they're done, with two stories done this week-Air and Water.

We'll see if I make it.

I'm also starting the seven sci fi/fantasy stories not related to the novel, at a rate of one a month until the end of the year.

Right now Ken and I are up to Chap 25 on the Pre Cyber novel.

I am way the frack behind

And I only have a month to get a new story (and a whole story) this time.

I'll be writing a lot in the novel when I get home.

Plus I'm opening up a new short story line, so I'll theoretically be doing two....but now that school is done, car is done(ish) I can focus a bit more.

Not much time

Not much writing was done last week or will be done this week because of the final final of my Grad Studies. Here's hoping I pass.

Writing Group met yesterday for the third time. Rita and Julie had awesome stories. Their recommendations on Water were to be sure to include ominous foreshadowing, ie 'why are the Abysmali paying attention now when they didn't before.' Makes sense.

Earth has been finished and submitted.

Skip and Rita now have the current incarnation of Micronation after Joyce reviewed it.

Ken and I have completed Chap 21, 22 and 23 of Precyber.

Writing

I plan to finish Earth this week for the writing group. I am to start Air later and work on Water as I can.

Air plan

Alright. So as I ponder the nature of the elves, it actually makes a lot of sense for them to have the froo froo gothicy frilly stuff they often have in fantasy tropes. Not because 5 year little girls like that kind of thing, but because when I ponder the Sopensen reaction to humans, it will eventually end up with the humans under their care after the Fulcrum event; as pets.

Sopensen are the Greeks/Native Americans of the setting in the sense that they have an extremely advanced and noble culture that gets stomped/stolen/borrowed/overshadowed by the humans. They were the ones that saved the world and made it livable after the Bleyoki. Of course, it also doesn't change the fact that they kind of did the same thing to the other four races that came before, but one could argue that in their case, unlike that of humans, they actually deserve some credit for two to three thousand years of impossible struggle to save the world as compared to gaining dominance simply because of a clever trick Pickle played on Fa and Sa.

Thus, they are going to love humans, but secretly hate them. The manifestation of this is an increase in life span, power, intelligence and beauty; all of the things that Elves typically have, but they are a culture of pets. And I think at the time of this story there is just one Sopensen that has not moved on to 'other things.'

The problem is, how do the pets react to normal humans? On the one hand, it will be the typical reaction of arrogance and disdain. After all, elves, like always, are better and more human than humans in virtually every way, and they live five to seven times longer. On the other hand, they, much like the Sopensen, will secretly hate and resent humans for their freedom for domination; even long after most of the Sopensen have left, their own culture and nature will continue to imprison themselves. A society doesn't stagnate on its own unless it turns inward, which means that is the way the elves will have to behave. However, I picture the elves having 'missions' to the 'lesser' human peoples, much like occurs now...

And the manifestation I see of this are Elven gifts. Magical abilities which are given to selected humans. Thus, our story will be about a human who is selected by a bunch of elves, taken back to the Elven city, made an Elven pet and given the gift. I'm thinking the gift goes wrong, the Sopensen steps in, chides the elves, and in so doing shows how the Elves themselves are 'pets' much the way they have treated the human visitor, and then the human goes back to the human lands with the gift in tow, much the wiser for her experience.

I'll have to take a day to think about our character and her gift.

Changes and Root Canals

So I realized that I'm the author of my own story.

Yeah, sounds trite and stupid, but the point is that if I'm not satisfied with a story, I should change it. It is true, that a balance must be struck between piddling around with the same story over and over again and putting stuff out. Well I've put lots of stuff out and its time, in my opinion, to notch up the piddling around with it until I get it to work.

I'll finish Earth and Water, but quite frankly, starting with Air, I don't do any more stories until I get it set up right, which I intend to do this week. I've also learned that when I compare novel 3 to novel 2 I do understand that it should all be written at once and quickly. I'm thinking that with air I write it all in three days. Which means I use the process I use with scripts, including putting down the entire plot ahead of time and THEN filling in the blanks. My stories come out much stronger that way.

My mother in law had as much difficulties with the 2nd novel as my mother did. Specifically the beginning. I'm going to perform a root canal on it, and radically change a few things whilst trying to save the core story. We'll see if it helps. If the foundation is not strong enough, I'll just have to move on, like I did with the first novel.

Which makes sense, since I usually have to do twice as much as anyone else to learn something, so if a natural writer doesn't really get to the good stuff until after their first novel, why not expect me to require at least two?

The plot?

So...a creative exercize...how do I get a human into the elf lands? The truth is, that unless they're a merchant or a sailor who gets 'lost at sea' nothing immediately comes to mind.

And I've already done the lost merchant thing for Earth. The last thing I want is a bunch of stories about merchants. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but its hardly epic heroism.

Now I do like the idea of a meeting between different cultures, but I'm not ready to do the Bleyoki....so that leaves either the Simsaur's people, the God's people (and my instinct is telling me this isn't right for them), the Abysmali people or a wilder. A wilder would be convenient because it would help define them, which means it has to be the Simsaur.

Now the problem is that the Simsaur make lots of people. They're the masters at breeding and life manipulation, but a bajillion races is...excessive in my belief. So what exactly would they see as wanting in a human? The Simsaur are the oldest of the races, so in some ways they've got a grudge, but they've got a grudge against everyone since they've been eclipsed by everyone at one time or another. So I'm thinking dwarves, gnomes, goblins and a million little short races to be diminuitive. The mechanical aptitude of humans (the ability to figure things out) is something that makes them useful to the Abysmali, but the Simsaur don't need that. On the other hand, there has long been a relationship between Simsaur and human teachers which tells me that these diminuiative races would be the true masters of magic.

Which is a bit against the trope of Fantasy since elves are supposed to be masters of things. But then again...the Sopensen would actually teach their people things, whereas the Dwarves would only be given a few bits and pieces. And their magics are totally different.

It seems a fit, but we'll see.

Air Apparant

Meeting with Ken this Thursday to plot out the next step of the 4th Novel (Pre Cyber). Some progress but not a huge amount.

Fire has been submitted and rejected; waiting to hear back from on Vance. I won't further report this kind of thing unless its accepted simply because it long, tedious and a little depressing.

Earth and Water are slowly moving along. I'm torn between wanting to do a good word count quota and making them GOOD, and right now I'm leaning a little bit on the making them GOOD side of things.

I've done the 'trickle' method with multiple stories rather than focusing on a single story before and I think it works kind of good. Course I need to finish one before the next Writer's group meeting but I think I'll be able to do that.

Tis the week to start designing "Air" which in this case I think means that Sopensen. I think the latter period, after the Flotsam novel interests me more; and needs the most definition. In fact, while I won't use this part directly in the novel there's a part that sings to me for placement in what I will eventually write later this year.

I speak, of course of the 'elves'. Should I even call them that? I imagine the humans of Glashause would. They would probably not call themselves that though. I could see themselves calling themselves Scions or something like that. To them 'elves' would be the Sopensen.

Status

Working on Earth and Water right now. Because of other things, I'm taking the trickle writing approach rather than focusing. Need to move these things along and I'll be designing Air next week. Fire and Vance should be shipped out either tomorrow or Wednesday. Probably tomorrow. Feedback and writing group definitely helps.

I've sent Ken my half of 16-20 in the Pre Cyber book. It's shaping up to be something pretty good. I think we're about 35-40% of the way there to a first draft, which will be very very nice.

Earth

The writing group went well. They gave me great feedback on Fire, though it is going to require a bit of a rewrite. I'm going to do that at the same time as water and start Earth this week as well.

Julie brought an old children's story that she wrote for her nephews a while back that is quite nice. Rita brought another chunk of her novel. This time it was an interesting anecdote about roller skates.

I'm still somewhat at a loss of what to do with Earth. However, I think what I'm going to do is have a human find the place long after the beavers are gone, and have the wild humans (except I need a different name for them) try to keep him from finding out the truth of what they did so long ago.

Role in the Cycle

So I'm thinking the woods in this case are natural enhancers of whatever exist within them. So the Hosted in this case, wouldn't really be changed. Since the Woods, or what would eventually become enchanted woods, were made by the Hosted, they already regarded themselves in their natural and perfect state. Animals would behave more like themselves, be more healthy, more vibrant and more...everything. A bird would be more bird like and a lion more lion like. It would create a healthy eco system that would at the same time reduce suffering.

With the ability to bring the trees to life within at their command (a given for such an enchanted place), it would be foolhardy for anyone to attack them during the dark times. Indeed, they would serve as natural resting places for questing heroes that eventually became human emperors during the light times, thus becoming natural preserves to a theoretically grateful new dynasty. Of course, they also had to have the ability to make trees grow with incredible speed to undo any damage done by the seige engines.

Indeed, the idea of enhanced humans raised in the woods is as old as fantasy, so someone who was a small child and raised by the Hosted could become quite powerful; stronger, swifter, smarter and more skilled at woodcraft than any normal natural human would be.

But until the end of Prophesy, humans were born, raised and then expelled from the Woods to fulfill their destinies as champions of humans. But what if there were multiple generations of humans born in such a place? Humans that become stronger, faster, and the most base animal instincts of all humans, lusty, Emo, passionate in every way imaginable. More Satyrs and Dryads than Centuars it seems.

And eventually the patient hosted would stand in their way one too many times, and the humans they had good naturedly kept sheltered from the storms ravaging the world beyond them would be killed, to a one.

Definitely the stuff of classic myth...now how to make a story out of it?

Earth

The final from hell and the gaming project from hell are sucking up my creative energies. I've sidelined the gaming project (even though it will pay ACTUAL money) and focused on the final for now. It should be much easier to write once this is done. Even easier when I've graduated.

Still, Fire and Vance are nearly ready for submission, and I'll be sending them Friday.
Water is stalled but must be ready by the writing group this Friday. In fact, I'll probably finish it Wednesday.

Which means it is about time to start designing the next story. The design I have in my mind are the third race. And the time is in the third era, right before the novel (whatever that might be) but long after Fulcrum of Prophesy. This is a world in which Pickle has been shattered into seven different parts. One to preserve the wall that protects humans inside of Glashouse, but the other six warped by his brothers and sisters and used for their own purposes. I like the idea of the other six using humans or modifying them in some way. Of course, the problem with this is...how?

For example, the Simsaur would easily change humans and quite frankly would make a lot of them to suit their purposes. The Abysmali could do the same thing, possibly with Mermen or possibly with gnomes or some tech loving race....but I must admit, I've never read about technically proficient mermen before. I'll have to think on it. The Gods...well...I don't know there. On the one hand, they love to meddle, but on the other hand they never got quite as raw a deal as the others, so I don't know. I'll have to think on that. The Bleyoki would just kill the humans in their lands, but I could see them eventually twisting something already modified by the Sopensen. And I could definitely see the Sopensen 'refining' humanity more to their own tastes. Subtle yet verifiable changes. Maybe even Elves. I don't like elves, and consider them...I dunno...boring...but in this case they, or something like them actually make sense given Sopensen sensibilities. Not that there aren't already some similarities between Sopensen and Elves anyway.

That's part of the challenge. The more original I make it, the more freedom I have and the more I'll enjoy it, but the more tropes of classic fantasy and mythology that I use, the more people who haven't read anything I've written before will be able to connect to it.

But the focus of the story that comes most to my mind are the third race. I can't even remember the name of the third race because they're so bland. I mean, intelligent beavers that build shelters with power in them? Whatever.

But, it does seem a wonderful way to segue into the 'magical forest' trope of fantasy. The modified humans, and the shard of Pickle could become Centaurs, or Nymphs or Fauns etc. But the thing that I find most fascinating about this idea is the beginning of the New Age, which starts with Fulcrum building the wall and ends with that wall coming down, but the beginning of the end, which probably takes centuries if not millenia, is the slow distancing of the Elder races and their patron Powers.

So what starts it? Well, why not kill two birds with one stone and have the classic story of fratricide...ie, the 'woodland humans' in whatever form I give them, rising up and killing their masters. Which would certainly make the other races take another look at their 'tame' humans, wouldn't it?

There is writing

And then there is writing that matters.

Progress slow

But steady. Fires is now done and reviewed once. Water is as it is. I'm going to start concept work for Earth Wednesday.

Same thing with Chapter 14-17 of Precyber to Ken. Right now I'm trying to get the revisions to Micronation out the door and should be done with those Tuesday.

One novel at a time.

Fires of Prophesy Done

Revising both that and Wood of the World Wyrm tomorrow. Will probably submit by the end of the week. Feels good. It has been months since I submitted anything for publication and longer for a short story.

Water is at 800ish words. Will write more tomorrow.

Writing Group

The writing group went well. We've scheduled another meeting in three weeks. My current goal is 1000 words a day but unemployment is already taking its toll. I doubt I'll get anything written at all today.

Slow but steady progress

Wrote a bit of water, only a bit of fire, 250 words each. But I wrote 750 words of Chapter 14. So I still got 1000 words done today, which some writers consider a good day's work.

I don't, but that's because on a good day I can do 7-8 times that. I know a lot of artists get their energy from pain...but I don't. I actually have less creative power when I'm stressed about where we'll find our next meal. It isn't that bad yet, but I can't always help but wonder about what if it gets that bad.

One step at a time. At least 1000 words a day, try for 2000. Writing group will meet on Sunday, which will help with at least one story a month.

Writing

Things seem to be going well for the most part. Lots of writing projects and other things to keep me busy when not looking for a job. I finished "Vance the Demigod" for the writer's group this Sunday (just started) but the title is horrific. No idea what to change it to.

I will finish "The Fire of Prophesy" and tomorrow and then start on Water while preforming the next story here.

We'll see how it comes out.

Into the minds of the Abysmali

So the first key here is...what do they think like?

Let's start with what we know about them. We know that they're the second oldest race....they kicked the pants out of the Simsaur in the first war. The third race didn't care about them, neither did the fourth. The Bleyoki kicked the pants out of them, but so did everyone. The Sopensen kind of did, but in a benevolent condescending way.

So its really only been humans that ever really beat them down. And they haven't really done this just once, but every single time a new empire arises and wants to throw its weight around.

So the thought occurs that the Abysmali are going to have a slow, simmering anger building (which culminates at the time of Fulcrum but this is before that.) But they're mindful that another empire is coming along, so they're not going to want to kick humans around TOO much.

Most cultures that have been victimized have one of two choices or tactics they most use; the first is to adopt and absorb the conquering culture as one's own. I just don't see the Abysmali doing that, and the second is to invent their own history that paints them in as positive a light as possible. I see the Abysmali doing that.

The thing I think that makes this interesting is that I see the Abysmali starting to take the really long view of things, both because they ARE old, and separate (being in the water), and they live a long time. But also because it contrasts them with humans. As such, I think that they hold humanity to the first deal made with the first empire....a hundred thousand years ago.

So what seem like magic tokens of protection and tribute to the humans of Glashause, are in fact navigation and tarriff agreements to the Abysmali. Of course, it isn't their fault that humanity hasn't bothered to collect on their end of the deal for 40,000 years. They're holding THEIR end of the deal up.

Water

I've decided to tell the better story. That means I have to figure out what the ship is out there for....I'm thinking raiders since it makes the horrific things that might or might not happen to them seem just...

In fact, since the Abysmali pretty much own the oceans it makes sense that to fish in them or travel on them one would have to pay them tribute, but since they're a dying race or at least scares, then they might not appear all that much. They're powerful and present enough that some kind of ritual would be needed but from time to time someone would try to ignore it...and they might get away with it for a while and not get caught.

The trick is that we'll need a new sailor joining the boat, to notice the lack of the Talisman or sign and be worried about it. The others will mock him for it, and of course, that is the voyage when the Abysmali take issue with their lack of respect.

Fire of Prophesy is at 3500.

Status

I have updated 4 of 21 chapters in "Micronation" for the third revision of the manuscript.

I have revised and cowritten 11 chapters out of 41 of "Precyber" with Ken....it's "the fourth novel" and is basically in a future dystopia set in Atlanta, GA.

"Fire of Prophesy" is at 3250 words, but it looks to need another 500.

Unfortunately, my schedule demands that I start working up a new story now, so I might have to piggy back a bit.

So what kind of story do I want to write? Next in the common theme is "Water" which almost automatically seems to be about the Abysmali, but that's a rather wide range of things to cover.

I'm torn between one of two different ideas...the first is a raiding party in Glashause that gets mixed up with the Abysmali from a distance...kind of a horror story set in the age before Fulcrum. The second is to be about their 'client' race in the age after Fulcrum in which they've modified humans....all of the major races have modified humans outside of Glashause in the third age...but I haven't given much thought about how.

That's why I lean a little bit toward the second idea, but its just an idea of somewhere to write about, not a story. As a story, the first definitely has more potential.

1250 words

This story feels better than the last starting paragraph, but it already feels like its wandering a bit. I'll try to redirect it, but sometimes moving forward is better.

750 Words on Fire

At 750 words.

Initial Fail

Only 550 words written on the Fire Story, though I have finally finished the first draft of the Vance story that proceeded it, and I'm working on Novel #4 with Ken again. I should begin writing in that as of next week again.

Experiment: Fail

This is the start of the story from the 'helper's perspective'....didn't work.

"Vlurf loved his master. He felt honored to work for a man who made fate itself his tool. He knew that he would be able to help some in the near future. Still, the world was going to make him want to give up his position for something more normal, like a Crafter or Skald position.

Vlurf would have none of it. He belonged at his master’s side."

I'm clearly going to try something else. I think I'll try again with a foot soldier tomorrow.

Perspective

I'd considered telling this from more than one perspective, one from a heroic Speilglase person who is fleeing the approaching army and retreating toward Glashause, but for a story of 5000ish words, more than one perspective is...difficulty. Short stories are hard enough without mixing in half a dozen different camera angles.

The problem is that the Fate Binder is kind of a jerk. Alright, he's a total jerk. Do I really want the story to be about a guy who defies prophesy and gets burned by it? That's particularly ironic really since the ultimate theme of the novel WAS going to be that prophesy and destiny have a way of petering out, of not being reliable when you want them to be there.

Then again, this would kind of show the capricious nature of Fa's prophesy. After all, this anecdote in history is supposed to be THE poster child about why thwarting prophesy is impossible, but if I were to show that in the story and PROVING just how random Fa can be would be interesting. So instead of making the Fatebinder ignorant of Fa and blown up in a fit of solar rage, what if he deliberately plays a cosmic game of chicken, using his own rules against him and in the end showing him that he only follows those rules in name only?

That still makes him a jerk and a rather unsympathetic character. And yet I need to start writing next week. I think that the story has to be about Fatebinder, but I may give Fatebinder an assistant or a side kick of some kind. Someone with redeeming qualities that can see the good in Fatebinder while being blind to the bad. Of course, in the story, the irony will be how the reader is able to see both.

We'll see if it works.

In the meantime, I've dusted off an old story that I'm nearly done with, and will finish tomorrow or Sunday, that I'll be revising next week as I write this story. The goal is 500 words a day for two weeks, which will produce 5000 words, with then a week of multiple rewrites before submission. We'll see if I can do that.

The Binder of Fate

The mover and shaker in this case is an individual who has mastered the secrets of the Scoungers who follow the Prophets around everywhere, the Hushers and the Wizards. He makes a pair of Goggles that allow him to see who is significant to a prophesy and who isn't.

The long story short of the situation is that he is determined to thwart a prophesy to prove that there it is merely a by product of people's beliefs, rather than a force on its own. He will start by outright killing several of the principle people involved in the prophesy, only to see the significant players shift. He then turns one of the princples involved into a mindless vegetable, and finally just assembles a gigantic army, playing on the tensions between Spielglas and her neighbors to invade the city states, taking them one by one until he has a massive force not seen since the days of the last empire ready to lay waste to the city.

He avoids several small threats and assassination attempts the prophesy moves in his way, because he can see them coming with the goggles, until Fa just gets sick of the whole thing and just fries the army to a cinder.

Glashause

How does one make a boy come from nowhere? Somewhere where something important happened once a long time ago but that nobody cares about any more.

Long ago, Glashause served as the scene for the rise of the Second great imperial human dynasty, the one that confirmed the prophetic cycle of empire and chaos and then a rise from the ashes. It was so famous for so long, that eventually it became a backwater. The people were initially full of themselves, and then forgotten, then hicks and then something else altogether. Of course, to one degree or another, thousands of years of human history could make most of the planet like that, but Glashause was one in particular.

It is the largest and oldest of the city states, best known for the Light House which served in the last empire. It is also known as a center of learning. The worst kept secret in the world is that the next prophesy will take place there. This isn't another empire, that isn't supposed to happen until 200 years later with Ful, but everyone knows it is the last big 'foreshadowing' event.

And one guy (who I'll detail tomorrow) attempts to manipulate prophesy to the point that he tries to keep the prophesy from happening. The thing is, that no one really knows about Fa, or the fact that he's ultimately the one behind the prophesy, because most people either worship Gods or one of the ancient powers. The fate manipulator is in for a bit of a rude shock, despite his incredibly sophisticated methods of manipulating prophesy.

First Story: Fire

Name of Kingdom: Speilglase
Basic Description of Kingdom: A confederation of seven city states between two powerful and warlike kingdoms. They have hints of viking and Japanese culture in their societies. They are located on the eastern coast of the largest and primary continent on Sylte (aka the Green world).

Government: Weak fuedal monarchy.

Social Structure: There are four basic social levels...five if you include the king.

The King: First among equals of the Thranes. Traditionally a hereditary position but the position is elected once every thirty years, therefore a weak king or a weak house can be changed with relatively little bloodshed.

Thrane: Essentially a hereditary dictator for one of the city states. They have theoretical control over all aspects of life not protected by powerful institutions (such as Hushers, Wizards and Destiny Prophets) or powerful castes (see below). In practice, they are almost all pretty live and let live except in times of war, simply because the unspoken cultural norm is that you let people do what you want.

Of course, conversely, the unspoken cultural norm is that there are certain expectations for most aspects of daily life and you're expected to conform to them unless you have a darn good reason.

The Castes: There are five honorable professions amongst the Speilers.

The general philosophy with each case is a balance between specialization (which gathers respect) and generalization (which also gathers respect). There is a guild like series of peer review to reward merit in each, with general levels of Apprentice, Journeyman and Master, with a Master having a certain number of Laurels which they get for doing noteworthy or cool things, which are especially useful in pissing contests with other masters. There is a minimum level of proficiency that is expected for each specialty in a casteman to know in their chosen caste.

Sailor: Obvious, but it includes raiding, fishing, trade, navigation etc.

Soldier: Footman, Archer, Calvary, Knight etc. All soldiers have some leadership training, obviously all are not good at it. By tradition, in times of war, ranks are divided by Caste Rank and Laurel unless otherwise ordered by the Thranes. There is a Shadow Rank system, however, which is controlled by Guild Masters at large, which puts compotent officers in charge and which is generally used by the Thrane in times of war.

Farmer: Not only agriculture and livestock but all of the various things that make a house hold work including carpenters, home makers etc.

Craftsmen: They make things. If you can think of something worth making, then you're considered a craftsmen. Technically speaking, all Castesmen are merchants, but in practice this mainly applies to Craftsmen. Of course, Castemen technically do not think of themselves as Merchants, but rather Entrepenurs, which is to them an entirely different thing. A merchant doesn't actually DO anything and merely moves money around or moves goods from place to place, which is something a thrall is good for. That means, generally, by definition, all foreigners who come to trade are Merchants, not Entrepenurs. This is a source of tension with Speilglase's neighboors.

Skald: Bards and entertainers of every kind of performance imaginable from poets to jugglers to painters. Technically, all of the other castes consider themselves dabblers in this caste, but selling their works or services is considered bad form unless they are of the Skald case. This also includes knowledgeable specialists such as lawyers and teachers. It technically would include scholars if the Hushers didn't tend to crush such things.

Thralls: The fourth and lowest rank. Anyone who doesn't choose a caste becomes a thrall, either in the service of castemen or the Thrane. Thralls are sworn for a year and a day at a time, after which they must become a thrall again, become a Casteman or leave.

Goals for 2009

Write a status update of all writing (prose) projects once a week.

Begin writing high fantasy in September of 2009, at 1000 words a day for four months to create 120,000 words for the novel so I can still have 100,000 words and cut 20,000 of them.

Write 12 short stories, 1 every three weeks until then to flesh out the world. Outline the short stories here but write them off line so I can submit them for publication (Thus forcing me to improve the stories to publishing quality standards.)

I am also considering writing a science fiction story once a month, but I will wait until after Grad School in May 2009 to do this, which would make the goal to submit 7 non novel related short stories for publication in 2009.

The novel short stories (fantasy) must NOT be part of the novel itself or involve its characters. This is designed to flesh out the world and make it more livable.