It's NaNoWriMo time again, and so whatever free time I can scrape up with a computer around is going there. For those of you who don't know, it's the month-long writing marathon to crank out a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. This will be my third year attempting NaNoWriMo, and I hope that I can get my word count in on time.
I have a bunch of friends who are working on NaNoWriMo as well, and it's nice to have the support system, as well as a little bit of a sense of competition. Among my friends that are doing it this year are (in no particular order): MWT, Eric, Jeri, Kimby, and Shawn. I'm sure I'm leaving people out, so my appologies to those I didn't mention above. Good luck to everyone participating this year!
It's interesting the way each year is different when doing NaNo. And I'm not just talking about the story itself.
The first year I did it, 2007, we had just moved and there was a lot going on at home. I wrote when there was time, including scrawling on a legal pad during my hour-long commute. Don't worry, I kept my eyes on the road and just wrote really big. In addition to unpacking and trying to get the house in order, Logan was just over a year old and I was working two jobs. When I was at my part-time job, I would write on a piece of paper when I could and then type it up when I got home. The fact that there was so much going on forced me to make time to write, and it worked really well in my favor. I knew what I wanted to write about before hand, and had at least part of the story figured out. I wasn't too keen on this story while I was writing it, and about half way through I got another idea that I wanted to work on, but it was too late in the month to start over.
The second year, I wrote in a much more linear fashion, and there was less going on around the house, which didn't always work out to my favor. This year, I worked on the idea that I had from 2007 and I liked the story a lot more. I had another idea about half way through the month again, and while I liked it, I didn't want to go off and abandon my first idea to work on the second. Also, the second idea would have been a different story that takes place in the same world of the first 2008 story.
This year is again entirely different. Once again, there is a lot going on at home. There's a new born, who demands a lot of our time, there's a three-year-old who demands a lot of our time (partially because of the new born), and there are a lot of family/social obligations. We have Ava's baptism in a couple weeks, Thanksgiving being celebrated on two different days to ensure we have more time to spend with my side and Brandi's sides of the family, there's Windycon next weekend (I know, I brought that one on myself), and whatever other things pop up between now and November 30. At my current job, there aren't great periods of down time like there were at my last job that would allow me to boost my word count during the day. At night, it would be impossible to work on my story while Logan's awake, and then after he's in bed I try to give Brandi more of a break by taking Ava and rocking her and all that. It's become our regular bonding time. This means there have been a lot of nights where I'm typing one-handed and rocking from side-to-side to keep the baby calm. And let me tell you, to type with a baby in one arm and a laptop on your lap makes you feel so warm you think you're going to melt into the couch. A lot of nights I'll be typing until Ava is fully asleep and I can bring her upstairs to bed, which has been between 1 and 2 lately. Or, if I'm lucky and she falls asleep before that, I'll take her upstairs and try to stay up and type a little more, but that only works for an hour or so before I need to get to bed so I can function and make decisions at work the next day.
Also, this time around, I really had no idea what I was going to write about before I started writing, so I had a start and stop approach. I thought about writing about werewolves, inter-office warfare, paranormal investigators, and cryptozoology. By day three I had started three different stories and, as MWT so accuretly said, "each restart has about 500 more words than the previous one." The third story finally took, and that's the one I've been working on. I'm still in the mundane, building it up part of the story, but it seems to be coming along well.
So my current word count is 7,020, which is a few thousand words behind where I should be for day 7. I'm hoping that I'll be able to generate 2,000 words a day for a while to catch up. But any progress is good progress and if I have to do some real late nighters toward the end of the month, so be it.
This year's novel, which as of yet does not have a title, incorporates the Survial Tips that I've been working on for a while. When all is said and done, I think I'll use the Survial Tips as a lead in to the chapters, plugging them in only after I've reached my 50,000-word goal.
In this story, a newly retired university professor and widower, Luther, decides to fulfill the dreams that he and his deceased wife, Martha, had by going out and actually seeing part of the world. Up to this point, it isn't that Luther has been a shut in, but as he reasons, there's always been something else going on to prevent him from ever taking a trip. After making sure the house will be looked after while he's away, he sets out for destinations near and far. During his travels, he takes with him a journal that Martha had given him but he'd never written in to record his experiences. This is where the survival tips come in. As he encouters things that he would have never thought possible, he creates these reports so that others might know the pitfalls that are (in the story) very real but largely unknown. From the vast corn fields of Illinois to giant, man-eating Venus flytraps, Luther experiences a world he would have never guessed is even possible.
Showing posts with label other writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label other writers. Show all posts
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Secrets of Getting Published with Marcus Sakey
Last Wednesday I went to "The Secrets of Getting Published" Seminar with Marcus Sakey at the Des Plaines Public Library, and because I'm a lazy blogger, I'm just getting around to writing about it now.
For those of you who don't know, Sakey is a Chicago-based crime/suspense novelist who has four novels out now with another one on the way this year. I read his second book, At the City's Edge, after seeing it on one of John Scalzi's Big Idea pieces. I really enjoyed the book.
So, Sakey came to tell us all about the process of getting published. He outlined the process which, according to him, goes like this:
1. Write the book
2. After the book is finished, put it aside and give it time to let it cool.
3. Give it to friends and family to read, at least 5
4. Read it through yourself, all in one sitting if possible
5. Mark it up A LOT
6. Remember it's not going to be perfect
7. There should be tension and conflict on every page
8. Get an agent
9. Agents get 5-50 quesry letters a day, so make sure there's no reason to disqualify you
10. While you're waiting for agents to respond, get going on the next book.
Aside from that, he said the most important rule for beginning rules is "Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard." The process of writing must be treated as a job. He recommended 1,000 words per day, five days a week, which unfortunately, I haven't been able to do lately. He said one way to get an agent is to look at the acknowledgements of the books of the authors you like to build up a list of agents to send to. He also equated self-publishing to the kiss of death.
Then he opened it up to Q&A for about an hour. I took a recording of the event, but haven't checked to see how well it came out yet. Maybe I'll transcribe it (don't hold your breath). One of the most interesting things that night, aside from the talk, was that about half the room appeared to be made up of retirees. One gentleman, 75, sitting in front of me had spent five years writing a young adult novel, and was going to have it self-published because he was "too old to wait around for the whole publishing process." Another gentleman, who looked even older, said he has a 360,000-word autobiography of his time in WWII. When the guy said 360,000 words, Sakey's jaw just about hit the floor. You're average novel, you see, is about 85,000 to 100,000 words.
I'm glad I went, and afterward, Sakey signed the copy of his book I brought with me and gave me some encouraging words. Aside from what I've shared here, he also has some documents for writers on his website that are worth checking out.
For those of you who don't know, Sakey is a Chicago-based crime/suspense novelist who has four novels out now with another one on the way this year. I read his second book, At the City's Edge, after seeing it on one of John Scalzi's Big Idea pieces. I really enjoyed the book.
So, Sakey came to tell us all about the process of getting published. He outlined the process which, according to him, goes like this:
1. Write the book
2. After the book is finished, put it aside and give it time to let it cool.
3. Give it to friends and family to read, at least 5
4. Read it through yourself, all in one sitting if possible
5. Mark it up A LOT
6. Remember it's not going to be perfect
7. There should be tension and conflict on every page
8. Get an agent
9. Agents get 5-50 quesry letters a day, so make sure there's no reason to disqualify you
10. While you're waiting for agents to respond, get going on the next book.
Aside from that, he said the most important rule for beginning rules is "Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard." The process of writing must be treated as a job. He recommended 1,000 words per day, five days a week, which unfortunately, I haven't been able to do lately. He said one way to get an agent is to look at the acknowledgements of the books of the authors you like to build up a list of agents to send to. He also equated self-publishing to the kiss of death.
Then he opened it up to Q&A for about an hour. I took a recording of the event, but haven't checked to see how well it came out yet. Maybe I'll transcribe it (don't hold your breath). One of the most interesting things that night, aside from the talk, was that about half the room appeared to be made up of retirees. One gentleman, 75, sitting in front of me had spent five years writing a young adult novel, and was going to have it self-published because he was "too old to wait around for the whole publishing process." Another gentleman, who looked even older, said he has a 360,000-word autobiography of his time in WWII. When the guy said 360,000 words, Sakey's jaw just about hit the floor. You're average novel, you see, is about 85,000 to 100,000 words.
I'm glad I went, and afterward, Sakey signed the copy of his book I brought with me and gave me some encouraging words. Aside from what I've shared here, he also has some documents for writers on his website that are worth checking out.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Bookish Stuff
I have less than 20 pages to go in my initial read of my NaNoWriMo novel, Fae Meds, (title subject to change) and I’m well on track of my earlier goal of finishing reading and taking notes by tomorrow.
What do I think so far? It’s definitely a ways from being publishable, but there’s plenty of material there for me to work with. As I was telling MWT the other day, there’s a new direction that I want to take the plot that I think will make it work better. There are some major characters that are going to have to be rethought out or eliminated, which is fine. There are some sections that will be cut outright, maybe. I’m still liking it more than my first NaNo novel, so I’m bolstered by that. I’m hoping that Sunday or Monday I’ll start the actual rewriting.
A coworker, and proprietor of JazzChicago.net, has published his first novel for the Kindle on Amazon. So if you have a Kindle, you might want to check out The Courier. While I haven’t read his novel, I’ve read some of his other fiction, which is good.
Apparently, Amazon allows people to upload their books for download on the Kindle. You set the price and upload the text and a description, even a cover image, and Amazon will sell it on your behalf. I’m not sure how much of a percentage of each sale the author receives, but for those of you out there interested in self publishing, here’s another venue for you to use in this digital age.
Have I mentioned before that I love Christopher Moore? I’m about half way through his new book, Fool, and it is very good. I know from reading his blog that he put a lot of work into researching the book. One passage in particular made me laugh out loud while I was reading it last night, which doesn’t happen with many books. But what I really wanted to point out was a blog he did for Powell’s Book Store. Go check it out now. He certainly doesn’t pull any punches.
And finally, did you know that it was really Stephen King that shot John Lennon? It’s true! Like Jim, I really can’t get enough of this nut job’s website. If he manages to get King arrested for his crime, it will be the most important thing for humanity since Jesus Christ. What? The whackadoo certainly seems to think so.
What do I think so far? It’s definitely a ways from being publishable, but there’s plenty of material there for me to work with. As I was telling MWT the other day, there’s a new direction that I want to take the plot that I think will make it work better. There are some major characters that are going to have to be rethought out or eliminated, which is fine. There are some sections that will be cut outright, maybe. I’m still liking it more than my first NaNo novel, so I’m bolstered by that. I’m hoping that Sunday or Monday I’ll start the actual rewriting.
A coworker, and proprietor of JazzChicago.net, has published his first novel for the Kindle on Amazon. So if you have a Kindle, you might want to check out The Courier. While I haven’t read his novel, I’ve read some of his other fiction, which is good.
Apparently, Amazon allows people to upload their books for download on the Kindle. You set the price and upload the text and a description, even a cover image, and Amazon will sell it on your behalf. I’m not sure how much of a percentage of each sale the author receives, but for those of you out there interested in self publishing, here’s another venue for you to use in this digital age.
Have I mentioned before that I love Christopher Moore? I’m about half way through his new book, Fool, and it is very good. I know from reading his blog that he put a lot of work into researching the book. One passage in particular made me laugh out loud while I was reading it last night, which doesn’t happen with many books. But what I really wanted to point out was a blog he did for Powell’s Book Store. Go check it out now. He certainly doesn’t pull any punches.
And finally, did you know that it was really Stephen King that shot John Lennon? It’s true! Like Jim, I really can’t get enough of this nut job’s website. If he manages to get King arrested for his crime, it will be the most important thing for humanity since Jesus Christ. What? The whackadoo certainly seems to think so.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Acclaimed Horror Novelist Assassinated World-Famous Musician!
Hello everyone. I’m back from my trip, and managed to make it into the office without getting into an accident today, despite all of the ice and snow on the roads. I was going to blog about my trip today (which was nice. I ate a Whataburger, which was good and greasy, which was probably why it was so good.) I was going to blog about my flights, which were actually early and properly air-conditioned. But then I came across a fun little item on BoingBoing this morning.
Did you know that John Lennon wasn’t murdered by Mark David Chapman? Oh no, apparently, he was murdered by acclaimed and prolific horror novelist Stephen King! And what’s more, Lennon wasn’t just murdered, it was all part of a political assassination that was plotted by King, Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan!
At least, that’s what crackpot Steve Lightfoot would have you believe. This is from his website:
His site includes a bunch of random seeming headlines that have some kind of code in them, I guess. There are excerpts from King’s works and interviews where Lightfoot says the author all but admits he did it. There’s also a long, rambling, typo-infused story of Lightfoot’s life and how he came to posses his incredible powers of detecting bullshit and liars (maybe he should turn that power on himself), which lead him to discover the clues and piece together the puzzle of Lennon’s true murderer.
Lightfoot recently made a statement at a Sarasota city meeting about how the city was harboring a fugitive (King) and was therefore keeping other celebrity types away. I guess the aging author, who hasn’t been in the best of health since he was hit by that van years ago, is going to go around shooting up celebrities if they move to that part of Florida. What’s more, King doesn’t live within the jurisdiction of the city of Sarasota, he lives in Sarasota County, so there’s nothing the city officials could do about it any way. Lightfoot was laughed at and removed from the meeting. There’s video of it here.
There’s so much material to cover here, and so little time to do it in, so I’ll leave you with that. Needless to say, the guy’s a whackadoo, and might need to get some professional help. His website’s worth a laugh, and if you’re a believer, you can support Lightfoot’s cause and help get the truth out there by buying his 24-page booklet of “evidence” for only $5.
Did you know that John Lennon wasn’t murdered by Mark David Chapman? Oh no, apparently, he was murdered by acclaimed and prolific horror novelist Stephen King! And what’s more, Lennon wasn’t just murdered, it was all part of a political assassination that was plotted by King, Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan!
At least, that’s what crackpot Steve Lightfoot would have you believe. This is from his website:
The story about Mark Chapman is a cover-up. Bold print government cryptographic codes that include the killer’s face and true identity, the killer’s alleged name and letter to the editor printed before the murder and Richard Nixon’s book, The Real War, in back issues of Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report magazines printed before, during, and after the night of December 8, 1980 prove that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan arranged for the author Stephen King, then barley famous, to assassinate John Lennon. That King’s writings draw, dramatically, from the crime and that he taunts us all in his interviews and comments only makes this the story of a lifetime. My 24-page booklet contains everything you've seen here and much more. Please order your copy. I guarantee it is the absolute truth about what really happened to John Lennon. Happy Code Cracking!
His site includes a bunch of random seeming headlines that have some kind of code in them, I guess. There are excerpts from King’s works and interviews where Lightfoot says the author all but admits he did it. There’s also a long, rambling, typo-infused story of Lightfoot’s life and how he came to posses his incredible powers of detecting bullshit and liars (maybe he should turn that power on himself), which lead him to discover the clues and piece together the puzzle of Lennon’s true murderer.
Lightfoot recently made a statement at a Sarasota city meeting about how the city was harboring a fugitive (King) and was therefore keeping other celebrity types away. I guess the aging author, who hasn’t been in the best of health since he was hit by that van years ago, is going to go around shooting up celebrities if they move to that part of Florida. What’s more, King doesn’t live within the jurisdiction of the city of Sarasota, he lives in Sarasota County, so there’s nothing the city officials could do about it any way. Lightfoot was laughed at and removed from the meeting. There’s video of it here.
There’s so much material to cover here, and so little time to do it in, so I’ll leave you with that. Needless to say, the guy’s a whackadoo, and might need to get some professional help. His website’s worth a laugh, and if you’re a believer, you can support Lightfoot’s cause and help get the truth out there by buying his 24-page booklet of “evidence” for only $5.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Results Are In
I didn't find out until yesterday that Writer's Digest has announced the winners of the 2008 writing competition. And I...wait for it...didn't win. This really doesn't surprise me. I would have been more surprised had I won. But at least I gave it a shot.
That said, I have to question the entries that were chosen as this years winner. Some were good, but then some, including the grand prize winner, were definitely not good. I discussed this at some length with one of the guys in the office that also entered a story and neither of us could find anything redeeming about the winning entry. I did not care for the grand prize, horror and scifi/fantasy stories. I thought the thriller/suspense story was decent, but some of the dialogue seemed a little wooden and I don't think I would have classified it as either thriller or suspense. The mystery/crime story was good. I really enjoyed it. I was also very pleasently surprised by the romance story. I've never read a romance novel before, and I was expecting something flowery and syrupy sweet, but this was not the case.
But you know what, I'll let you decide. Here are the winning entries.
Grand Prize Winner: "Falling Leaves" by William Rausch
Horror Winner: "Look at the Dead Person" by Fred McGavran
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Winner: "Chosen" by Beverly Smith-Dawson
Thriller/Suspense Winner: "Brother's Keeper" by Richard Mazziotti
Mystery/Crime Winner: "The Fish Ivory Man" by Ken McBeath
Romance Winner: "Magic" by Karin Fuller
Unfortunately, this has made me question the value/effort involved in sending my work over to Writer's Digest, because I honestly don't think they'd ever pick one of my stories based on those published. On the plus side, I now have a story that's done that I can start submitting to other publications.
In other writing/Writer's Digest news, Maria Schneider, who was editor-in-chief of Writer's Digest until a few weeks ago and has worked with some big names in publishing, has started a new blog, editorunleashed. Apparently, after some corporate change up at WD and the placement of a new editorial director, Maria resigned, saying the tone and content of the magazine were going to be driven in a direction she didn't really care for. I can respect that, and it really takes guts to leave a nice job like that today. So go check out her fledgeling blog where she's been posting advice and whatnot for writers. She's also launched a forum for writers over there. Anyone who signs up by November 30 is entered into a contest to have a free manuscript critique from her! Go check it out.
That said, I have to question the entries that were chosen as this years winner. Some were good, but then some, including the grand prize winner, were definitely not good. I discussed this at some length with one of the guys in the office that also entered a story and neither of us could find anything redeeming about the winning entry. I did not care for the grand prize, horror and scifi/fantasy stories. I thought the thriller/suspense story was decent, but some of the dialogue seemed a little wooden and I don't think I would have classified it as either thriller or suspense. The mystery/crime story was good. I really enjoyed it. I was also very pleasently surprised by the romance story. I've never read a romance novel before, and I was expecting something flowery and syrupy sweet, but this was not the case.
But you know what, I'll let you decide. Here are the winning entries.
Grand Prize Winner: "Falling Leaves" by William Rausch
Horror Winner: "Look at the Dead Person" by Fred McGavran
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Winner: "Chosen" by Beverly Smith-Dawson
Thriller/Suspense Winner: "Brother's Keeper" by Richard Mazziotti
Mystery/Crime Winner: "The Fish Ivory Man" by Ken McBeath
Romance Winner: "Magic" by Karin Fuller
Unfortunately, this has made me question the value/effort involved in sending my work over to Writer's Digest, because I honestly don't think they'd ever pick one of my stories based on those published. On the plus side, I now have a story that's done that I can start submitting to other publications.
In other writing/Writer's Digest news, Maria Schneider, who was editor-in-chief of Writer's Digest until a few weeks ago and has worked with some big names in publishing, has started a new blog, editorunleashed. Apparently, after some corporate change up at WD and the placement of a new editorial director, Maria resigned, saying the tone and content of the magazine were going to be driven in a direction she didn't really care for. I can respect that, and it really takes guts to leave a nice job like that today. So go check out her fledgeling blog where she's been posting advice and whatnot for writers. She's also launched a forum for writers over there. Anyone who signs up by November 30 is entered into a contest to have a free manuscript critique from her! Go check it out.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Asshats Ahead!
If you haven't already seen it, I encourage anyone who stumbles by here to head over to Jim's blog for some learnin' about a particularly asshatted bank out in California and the way they treated the grieving parents of a Navy Hospital Corpsman from Hemet, California who was killed in the line of duty on June 18th. If you read the comments, it includes some particularly nasty responses from a couple of commenters that Jim has traced back to the bank. I can't do his post justice, just go check it out. Seriously, check it out.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
You Spin Me Write Round
Nathan over at Polybloggimous has started another round robin writing experiment. This time it’s taking on a more serious vein, following the exploits of one Charlotte Misner, a woman in the 1940s who has to make it on her own while raising her deceased sister’s three very young children and working to support them.
It’s a challenge because it’s definitely not in any of the genre type stuff that I’ve worked on before (mostly fantasy/sci-fi). I’m up at bat right now and the task is a little daunting. I’ve got a start, but I’m not sure where I want to try and steer the story. The one thing that strikes me about the four chapters that have come before is that while Charlotte has had some obstacles to over come, those obstacles have been overcome much too easily.
Ugh, what to do? Maybe Charlotte will be attacked by a vicious land shark. Perhaps she will discover that the children are really the three parts of a mystical talisman that will be the key to ending WWII, but to make the talisman work, she must be willing to sacrifice them. Or maybe she’ll discover a secret recipe for spaghetti that will promote peace and love.
Enough blathering. There’s work to do!
It’s a challenge because it’s definitely not in any of the genre type stuff that I’ve worked on before (mostly fantasy/sci-fi). I’m up at bat right now and the task is a little daunting. I’ve got a start, but I’m not sure where I want to try and steer the story. The one thing that strikes me about the four chapters that have come before is that while Charlotte has had some obstacles to over come, those obstacles have been overcome much too easily.
Ugh, what to do? Maybe Charlotte will be attacked by a vicious land shark. Perhaps she will discover that the children are really the three parts of a mystical talisman that will be the key to ending WWII, but to make the talisman work, she must be willing to sacrifice them. Or maybe she’ll discover a secret recipe for spaghetti that will promote peace and love.
Enough blathering. There’s work to do!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sophie Gets Around, Sophie from Shinola Part XXI
Wow, I'm feeling intimidated. Nathan started this crazyfun round robin writing exercise at his blog (the explanation and beginning can be found here). So far, I think everyone will agree that this has been fun to see how all sorts of different people from all over the country (is anyone international?) try to create one coherent story with some interesting rules. And now it's my turn again and I'm not totally sure what to do. But here goes. (Gotta get it done now 'cause I know I'll be busy at work tomorrow and I know how ya'll don't like to wait too long for the next part).
Part 20 can be found here.
When last we saw the story:
Billy Chenolla looked straight into Gareth's eyes and cut him off with a question that caused the man to turn from off-white to purplish-red in the space between two heartbeats.
“So,” he said so bland and casual it burned, “who's Sophie from Shinola?”
The dual personality that was once just Blink but was now Sophie/Blink blinked. The Tragethen empire's plan to create a terraformed series of parallel universes was mounting. Sophie had overlapping visions: a vision of a strange tropical island and a big man in blue; a vision of a literary agent with the hots for her mandroid that was reading about her life; a vision of her parents, but it was her parents from an altering timeline; and a vision of a woman whose brain had been downloaded into a computer. Things were getting worse quickly.
Sophie rose out of the fetal position and stretched her many-limbed, furry body. Reality shifted again, sliding through a kaleidoscope of sights before it stopped. No longer was Sophie in a phone booth in Amsterdam, now she was in a closet. But not just any closet, it was the closet on the Tragethen battle cruiser that had picked her up after attacking not-Sophie. After the attack and the pick up, Sophie was in such a state of shock (hence the fetal position) that she shut down and Blink took over. They bolted, amid the cries of the surprised Tragethens, and found themselves hiding out in the closet.
"We're back to where we began," Blink said through their mind-link bond. "The attack is progressing. We must act now if the Earth is to be saved."
Sophie didn't respond, her mind was still struggling to cope with everything that had happened to her over the last few hours.
"Sophie, honey, we've got to work together if we're going to save the Earth and your parents."
From the recesses of their shared mind, Sophie peered out cautiously. "Ok. I'll be strong," she said. "What do we need to do?"
"Well, first we need to get out of this closet, and then we need to find the weapons control system. There's a reason the SpaceForce was looking at you for candidacy, and because of that, I'm confident that you will be able to take control of the weapons array of this ship to destroy the terraformer in orbit around the planet. As for stopping the Trageth from coming back, I'm still unsure of that."
Blink felt Sophie's mental nod, and the two moved on, cautiously opening the closet and peering out into the curving metal corridor. They didn't see any Trageth, but Blink kept them from rushing out. They listened for signs of others while Blink adjusted his/their physology. When he was done, they set out down the corridor, using the modification to run silently along the ceiling.
They moved blindly from one corridor to another until something in Sophie's mind clicked. "Wait, turn back," she said. "Go down that last corridor we just past. Something tells me that the weapons systems control will be that way."
Part 22 is here.
Part 20 can be found here.
When last we saw the story:
Billy Chenolla looked straight into Gareth's eyes and cut him off with a question that caused the man to turn from off-white to purplish-red in the space between two heartbeats.
“So,” he said so bland and casual it burned, “who's Sophie from Shinola?”
The dual personality that was once just Blink but was now Sophie/Blink blinked. The Tragethen empire's plan to create a terraformed series of parallel universes was mounting. Sophie had overlapping visions: a vision of a strange tropical island and a big man in blue; a vision of a literary agent with the hots for her mandroid that was reading about her life; a vision of her parents, but it was her parents from an altering timeline; and a vision of a woman whose brain had been downloaded into a computer. Things were getting worse quickly.
Sophie rose out of the fetal position and stretched her many-limbed, furry body. Reality shifted again, sliding through a kaleidoscope of sights before it stopped. No longer was Sophie in a phone booth in Amsterdam, now she was in a closet. But not just any closet, it was the closet on the Tragethen battle cruiser that had picked her up after attacking not-Sophie. After the attack and the pick up, Sophie was in such a state of shock (hence the fetal position) that she shut down and Blink took over. They bolted, amid the cries of the surprised Tragethens, and found themselves hiding out in the closet.
"We're back to where we began," Blink said through their mind-link bond. "The attack is progressing. We must act now if the Earth is to be saved."
Sophie didn't respond, her mind was still struggling to cope with everything that had happened to her over the last few hours.
"Sophie, honey, we've got to work together if we're going to save the Earth and your parents."
From the recesses of their shared mind, Sophie peered out cautiously. "Ok. I'll be strong," she said. "What do we need to do?"
"Well, first we need to get out of this closet, and then we need to find the weapons control system. There's a reason the SpaceForce was looking at you for candidacy, and because of that, I'm confident that you will be able to take control of the weapons array of this ship to destroy the terraformer in orbit around the planet. As for stopping the Trageth from coming back, I'm still unsure of that."
Blink felt Sophie's mental nod, and the two moved on, cautiously opening the closet and peering out into the curving metal corridor. They didn't see any Trageth, but Blink kept them from rushing out. They listened for signs of others while Blink adjusted his/their physology. When he was done, they set out down the corridor, using the modification to run silently along the ceiling.
They moved blindly from one corridor to another until something in Sophie's mind clicked. "Wait, turn back," she said. "Go down that last corridor we just past. Something tells me that the weapons systems control will be that way."
Part 22 is here.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Round Robin, Sophie From Shinola Part 5
Last week I signed up to be part of a round robin writing experiment that comes together across many blogs and was thought of by Nathan over at Polybloggimous. The premise of the experiment is pretty straightforward: one person starts the story, writing approx. 100-500 words and the next person puts part two on his or her blog, changing one main element of the story, linking then to the previous and following posts and so on. The clearer, full instructions, can be found here, along with part one (scroll down). Then there are the following parts:
Part the Second
Part the Third
Part the Fourth
Sophie's second body was a latticework icosahedron stubbed with momentum and death, incapable of both atmospheric and interstellar travel, but ideal for turning and whirling and whipping around the first invasion fleet, cutting it to pieces in twelve-point-five minutes. If fake-Sophie wasn't crazy when she saw Sophie's first two bodies, oh, she was crazy after the Battle Of Chenolla Oort, where the precognitive interdictors of SpaceForce ambushed the Kollithi fleet. Crazy and weak and screaming from within the brain in the shell.
Part 5
From far below, Blink could tell that Sophie was in distress. Through their link, Blink could feel her fear and confusion, even the fear of the imposter. The imposter smelled the same as Sophie, and this confused Blink. The imposter’s thoughts were different from Sophie’s but there were similarities, and this confused Blink more. Another spike of fear and this time pain from Sophie and not-Sophie. For a second time, Blink blinked. The Mother was up there with Sophie yet she did not do anything to stop the fear and pain. He had to get to Sophie. If the Mother was not going to stop whatever was hurting Sophie, Blink would have to.
The small brown creature was still stuck in the hole in the corner of the dumpster. Blinked nudged it again, trying to push it through the hole, but it only squeaked louder. The small brown creature was a filthy thing. Normally Blink didn’t eat filthy things. Not when Blink received good food from Sophie and the Mother, good thinks like shrimp crackers. But Blink could wait no longer and he flicked out his tongue and snapped up the small brown creature. There was one little squeak before the crunch and then it was still. The filthy thing wasn’t all bad, and the taste triggered some exciting hereditary memories from when his ancestors roamed the fields of Chenolla VI.
Blink expanded the link with the Mother, and her mind was full of strange words like psychiatric evaluation, defense mechanism, and split personality, all of which were associated with images of Sophie. The Mother was also very sad. It made Blink sad. Then came words like looney bin and mental. The Mother thought that Sophie had no chance of getting into the SpaceForce Training Academy with such disorders. Blink didn’t understand the words, only the feelings.
With the thing out of his way, Blink began the process of loosening his joints to fit through the hole. It was a slow process and many times Blink picked up more fear from Sophie and not-Sophie. This made Blink want to rush, but he took his time so as not to get hurt on the sharp metal around the hole in the dumpster.
Finally, Blink was free and he pulled his many limbs back into position. The building that stood before him was tall and smooth, and Sophie was near the top. That would not stop Blink, because Blink, with his many limbs, was such a good climber. All he knew was that Sophie needed him, and so he went.
Part the Sixth
Part the Second
Part the Third
Part the Fourth
Sophie's second body was a latticework icosahedron stubbed with momentum and death, incapable of both atmospheric and interstellar travel, but ideal for turning and whirling and whipping around the first invasion fleet, cutting it to pieces in twelve-point-five minutes. If fake-Sophie wasn't crazy when she saw Sophie's first two bodies, oh, she was crazy after the Battle Of Chenolla Oort, where the precognitive interdictors of SpaceForce ambushed the Kollithi fleet. Crazy and weak and screaming from within the brain in the shell.
Part 5
From far below, Blink could tell that Sophie was in distress. Through their link, Blink could feel her fear and confusion, even the fear of the imposter. The imposter smelled the same as Sophie, and this confused Blink. The imposter’s thoughts were different from Sophie’s but there were similarities, and this confused Blink more. Another spike of fear and this time pain from Sophie and not-Sophie. For a second time, Blink blinked. The Mother was up there with Sophie yet she did not do anything to stop the fear and pain. He had to get to Sophie. If the Mother was not going to stop whatever was hurting Sophie, Blink would have to.
The small brown creature was still stuck in the hole in the corner of the dumpster. Blinked nudged it again, trying to push it through the hole, but it only squeaked louder. The small brown creature was a filthy thing. Normally Blink didn’t eat filthy things. Not when Blink received good food from Sophie and the Mother, good thinks like shrimp crackers. But Blink could wait no longer and he flicked out his tongue and snapped up the small brown creature. There was one little squeak before the crunch and then it was still. The filthy thing wasn’t all bad, and the taste triggered some exciting hereditary memories from when his ancestors roamed the fields of Chenolla VI.
Blink expanded the link with the Mother, and her mind was full of strange words like psychiatric evaluation, defense mechanism, and split personality, all of which were associated with images of Sophie. The Mother was also very sad. It made Blink sad. Then came words like looney bin and mental. The Mother thought that Sophie had no chance of getting into the SpaceForce Training Academy with such disorders. Blink didn’t understand the words, only the feelings.
With the thing out of his way, Blink began the process of loosening his joints to fit through the hole. It was a slow process and many times Blink picked up more fear from Sophie and not-Sophie. This made Blink want to rush, but he took his time so as not to get hurt on the sharp metal around the hole in the dumpster.
Finally, Blink was free and he pulled his many limbs back into position. The building that stood before him was tall and smooth, and Sophie was near the top. That would not stop Blink, because Blink, with his many limbs, was such a good climber. All he knew was that Sophie needed him, and so he went.
Part the Sixth
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Collaboration
Today, as I was reading the very fine Story Bones blog where Mr. Buchheit had a some commentary about collaborative fiction project being organized on Polybloggimous. It sounds like an interesting project. Basically, he’s gathering a group of people to all work on a story linking one blog to another as the story is written. Each person will need to write 500 to 1,000 words for their portion, AND change some fundamental of the story i.e., a sex change for the main character, a change of seasons, etc. etc. He explains it much better than me. Go on, take a look.
Anywho, I decided, what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. So I signed up and I’m very interested to see how this will all work out. Once sign ups are over (this Sunday I think), the author order will be chosen at random and the story will begin. Each author will link to the previous post, and the following post so the story can be read from one blog to another. It looked like there were a lot of people that wanted to participate the last time I looked.
I've worked on collaborative projects before. They can be fun and they can be frustrating. One I worked on, my friend gave me the story that he had been thinking of and then I would write and bring it to him and he might add a little something but I did most of it. Then it turns out the story he was thinking of was completely different from the one I was thinking of and I totally lost interest. The other one, another friend began a story and emailed it to me with the instructions to write for at least half an hour and send it back and we couldn't talk about the plot at all. That one was much more enjoyable, trying to write the other into a corner and see how he got out of it, seeing what twists and new plot devices the other would throw in there. We went back and forth for over a year and ended up with just over 31,000 words before things kind of ground to a halt. Life just got too busy. You can see what we did with that here.
So, anyway, I'm looking forward to this collaboration thing. Not only will it be interesting to see the outcome, I could always use another excuse to get some writing done.
Anywho, I decided, what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. So I signed up and I’m very interested to see how this will all work out. Once sign ups are over (this Sunday I think), the author order will be chosen at random and the story will begin. Each author will link to the previous post, and the following post so the story can be read from one blog to another. It looked like there were a lot of people that wanted to participate the last time I looked.
I've worked on collaborative projects before. They can be fun and they can be frustrating. One I worked on, my friend gave me the story that he had been thinking of and then I would write and bring it to him and he might add a little something but I did most of it. Then it turns out the story he was thinking of was completely different from the one I was thinking of and I totally lost interest. The other one, another friend began a story and emailed it to me with the instructions to write for at least half an hour and send it back and we couldn't talk about the plot at all. That one was much more enjoyable, trying to write the other into a corner and see how he got out of it, seeing what twists and new plot devices the other would throw in there. We went back and forth for over a year and ended up with just over 31,000 words before things kind of ground to a halt. Life just got too busy. You can see what we did with that here.
So, anyway, I'm looking forward to this collaboration thing. Not only will it be interesting to see the outcome, I could always use another excuse to get some writing done.
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