Hey all, I've been doing a little work on a new radio thing involving a few favorite hobbies. Role playing games and video games. Link can be found here. Look for Gamer Corps.
As far as fiction writing, I am doing a little bit of that. Not much as I would like, yet there never seem to be enough hours in the day for it anyway. I will say that it is shaping up very nicely. Might even be able to share a little everyone here soon. I will keep you posted on that.
And, i should get back to writing now. Wanted to make a quick post, let you all know I'm not dead. ;-P
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Oooh, a new shiny...
So, again I have gone and started something else. Well, more like started a project again. It is a modern day fantasy, with mystery elements and a thrill or two. Hard-boiled, yet not about a private eye. Not a rip-off of Dresden Files, though I love the series and wait for the next book with bated breath. And I will admit that this current project was inspired by Butcher, it is something that I believe is different enough to not be just a rehashing of those books.
Read an amazing article of the detective story, written many, many moons ago by Raymond Chadler. He was arguing that the detective story IS worthy of being well written and respect from critics. He goes into a short history of the genre as a whole. I recommend it. Called, A Simple Art of Murder and can be found here.
Read an amazing article of the detective story, written many, many moons ago by Raymond Chadler. He was arguing that the detective story IS worthy of being well written and respect from critics. He goes into a short history of the genre as a whole. I recommend it. Called, A Simple Art of Murder and can be found here.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
A curse of the "Oh shiny..."
Well, I think I have a problem.
No, I DO have a problem. The curse of the magpie's "Oh shiny," mentality. While I was editing my fantasy novel, I started to read a noir sci-fi. I picked it up after reading a list of sci-fi books and series that other sci-fi and fantasy writers said were good. It has been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year and I just picked it up today. When Gravity Fails is an amazing book so far, and I was sad to hear that the author, one George Alec Effinger, died many years ago and there are only two other books with Marîd Audran in it.
But, the problem is now I have started to go back and re-work a sci-fi noir piece of my own. At the moment, this is a story based on a setting in my mind on the planet Mars. Yes, Mars. I have a real love of the red planet. It has nothing to do with Heinlein's adventure stories or Burrough's. Something in my mind has grasped Mars as the location for the desolate, the broken and castoffs of Earth. I would love to share more yet it is my rile not to share to much, least I tell the story and don't want to sit down and write it.
I think I will continue this story for a time. I do know that there is a real reason for the "Oh, shiny," mentality. At least, it makes sense to me. It is a way for my mind to get out from under the burden of failure. You would think a writer wouldn't worry about that until later. One of the biggest fears for many writers, me being one of them, is the feeling that if I don't finish anything then I won't fail at anything. I can sit on half completed products and think that I will get to them in time.
There are two ways to deal with this, at least for me. One is to push through when I have that magpie moment again. Something I tried to do with this fantasy story that I think might languish a little longer on the back burner. The other is to re-read the story Snows of Kilimanjaro. It is all about a writer who gathers and gathers things together and NEVER writes anything and dies.
The idea that I could die before anything of mine gets published is something that will motivate me. Though it is a very morbid way of thinking and looking at things. But, that is jst how I am sometimes.
No, I DO have a problem. The curse of the magpie's "Oh shiny," mentality. While I was editing my fantasy novel, I started to read a noir sci-fi. I picked it up after reading a list of sci-fi books and series that other sci-fi and fantasy writers said were good. It has been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year and I just picked it up today. When Gravity Fails is an amazing book so far, and I was sad to hear that the author, one George Alec Effinger, died many years ago and there are only two other books with Marîd Audran in it.
But, the problem is now I have started to go back and re-work a sci-fi noir piece of my own. At the moment, this is a story based on a setting in my mind on the planet Mars. Yes, Mars. I have a real love of the red planet. It has nothing to do with Heinlein's adventure stories or Burrough's. Something in my mind has grasped Mars as the location for the desolate, the broken and castoffs of Earth. I would love to share more yet it is my rile not to share to much, least I tell the story and don't want to sit down and write it.
I think I will continue this story for a time. I do know that there is a real reason for the "Oh, shiny," mentality. At least, it makes sense to me. It is a way for my mind to get out from under the burden of failure. You would think a writer wouldn't worry about that until later. One of the biggest fears for many writers, me being one of them, is the feeling that if I don't finish anything then I won't fail at anything. I can sit on half completed products and think that I will get to them in time.
There are two ways to deal with this, at least for me. One is to push through when I have that magpie moment again. Something I tried to do with this fantasy story that I think might languish a little longer on the back burner. The other is to re-read the story Snows of Kilimanjaro. It is all about a writer who gathers and gathers things together and NEVER writes anything and dies.
The idea that I could die before anything of mine gets published is something that will motivate me. Though it is a very morbid way of thinking and looking at things. But, that is jst how I am sometimes.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Editing...
So, I have a about a hundred pages of this fantasy written. It isn't complete, yet I find that most of me doesn't want to keep going with it and my mind keeps wondering to other projects. I took some time and now I'm going to focus on the editing thing more!
I have to if I want this to be in any shape for publishing down the road.
I find that using another color pen is the best for me, since when I go to re-write it and I use a black pen, my mind skips over half the corrections. And, using red is something I have always seen as the best thing to stand out on a black and white manuscript.
So far, I have 15 pages of the thing done. I am just hoping that I don't have a "ohhh, shiny" moment and go off to start re-writing the story from the beginning once I hit page fifty or sixty. I shall keep you all posted...
I have to if I want this to be in any shape for publishing down the road.
I find that using another color pen is the best for me, since when I go to re-write it and I use a black pen, my mind skips over half the corrections. And, using red is something I have always seen as the best thing to stand out on a black and white manuscript.
So far, I have 15 pages of the thing done. I am just hoping that I don't have a "ohhh, shiny" moment and go off to start re-writing the story from the beginning once I hit page fifty or sixty. I shall keep you all posted...
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