Geometric Progression Edition
One:
One and One:
(One and One) and (One and One):
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog December 12 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Personal Literary Archaeology, Part II
For more explanation see Part I.
Erik turned the car’s stereo up a little louder and pushed the gas pedal down hard. This was the last delivery of the night. Once he got rid of this pizza he would be free for three whole days. And what glorious days they would be! The science fiction channel was going to be broadcasting seventy two straight hours of Doctor Who episodes. A bunch of the other fen were going to come to his place and they were going to have a marathon viewing session. Of course there would be times when he would have to go to the bathroom or something, but that was okay, he was going to tape the whole thing. He had a fresh box of video tapes on the seat next to him for that express purpose. He grinned in anticipation and wished the night could be over. As if in answer to his prayers he spotted the address he was looking for. He grabbed the delivery bag and hopped out, pausing only to make sure that the celery on his lapel was at the right angle. You never know when you might meet an attractive femme fen. He was almost to the door when a noise made him turn and look to his left. “Pardon me,” said a deep gravelly voice, “but I think your boutonniere is wilting. Allow me to provide you with a new one.” Then there was a twang and he felt an impact in his chest. He looked down. A green bolt which appeared to be made of frozen celery was sticking out from between his ribs. His strength left him and he slumped to the ground. “Why?” he asked. “There can be only one,” was all the answer he ever got.
To be continued.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog December 9 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Dumb Things, Mine.
So, I’ve been having trouble getting started in WebMage book 5. It’s moving, but not nearly as fast as I need it to. Anyway, last night I wrote someone shooting Ravirn again, always a jump start moment, though I wasn’t entirely sure who pulled the trigger when I wrote the scene. This morning on the treadmill I came up with what felt like the right answer, though I couldn’t figure out who the prime mover behind the shooter was at first. After a while I had what sounded like a crazy idea that just tasted right even though I didn’t know how I would make it work (call it character X).
So, finally, I’m writing the reveal on the shooter, still unsure why I’d chosen that character and why my brain kept telling me character X had given the orders. At that point, I very consciously split off a chunk of brain to work on that problem while the front systems were writing the actual scene. Just as I get to the sentence where it matters that I know the answer (the reader doesn’t need it for a good couple of chapters) the bit of brain that’s supposed to work on the problem comes back with the reason in a very sarcastic smell the coffee, McCullough you idiot, kind of way.
Turns out that if I’d bothered to go check my $%@*&%#@ outline the answer would have been obvious. Of course it has to be character X. The reasons were already in the master plan. Hell, I even foreshadowed them in books 3 and 4. The important lessons learned here are A) read the %^@$$# outline once in a while, and, B) don’t bang your head on the wall trying to figure something clever out, just write the damned scene and get out of your own way.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog December 3 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Personal Literary Archaeology
Laura and I were rewatching Season IV of Dr Who last night and it rang a very faint memory bell for me. A little work with Apple’s spotlight search and hey presto I’d dug out the three pieces of a Dr Who themed serial that I’d written for a zine called Pirate Radio Neptune back around the end of 1994, years before my first actual sale. Anyway, I thought I’d post them here as a window into the head of a developing writer. There were supposed to be two more, and some day I might even write them. Here’s the first.
Melvin rubbed at his eyes. Staring into a computer monitor for hours on end could really take it out of you. But, it was well worth it. After thirty two straight hours he had solved the Dalek riddle. Now he would have some real status in the Dr Who MUD. He got up from his desk and put on his world war two surplus trench and the real Dr. Who scarf that his mother had made for him. Then it was down the stairs and out the door. He was going to SA to grab a case of Mountain Dew and some jelly beans. Nothing like caffeine and sugar to pick you up. It was dark out. No surprise. It was close to midnight. He was about half a block from the store when he felt the tug on his scarf. At first he thought that he had caught it on something. By the time he saw the shadowy figure it was too late. Whoever they were they had a firm grip on his scarf. He felt the wool stretch tight across his windpipe. He fought, but his computer-mushroom lifestyle hadn’t prepared him for a death struggle. It was over quickly. The dark figure stood over the body and let out a harsh laugh. Then it bent and took the scarf. “There can be only one!” said the figure.
To be continued.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog , and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Memage
This is going around:
Age when I decided I wanted to be a writer: 23
Age when I wrote my first short story: 23
Age when I first got my hands on a good word processor: 23
Age when I first submitted a short story to a magazine: 23
Rejections prior to first short story sale: 90
Age when I sold my first short story: 31
Age when I killed my first market: 31 (my 3rd sale)
Approximate number of short stories sold: ~30 (2013 update: ~35) (it’s complicated)
Age when I first sold a poem: 32
Poems sold: 3
Age when I wrote my first novel: 23
Age when I first sold a novel: 37
Novels written between age 23 and age 37: 7
Age when I wrote the first novel I sold: 32/33
Number of novels written before that: 3
Age when that novel was published: 38
Total number of novels written: 13 (2013 update: 20)
Books sold: 6 (5 novels, 1 short story educational thingie) (2013 update: 13)
Books published or delivered and in the pipeline: 5 (2013 update: 12)
Number of titles in print: 4 (2013 update: 9)
Age when I was a Writers of the Future winner: 33
Age when I became a full-time novelist: 28 (kept man)
Age now: 41 (2013 update: 46)
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog December 2 2013, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Retro Friday Cat Blogging Choose Your Own Caption Edition
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog November 28 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Beta Drafting
This is what my office looks like at the beginning of the beta draft process. In this case The Eye of Horus–Black School II.
Things to know:
1) The Wyrdsmiths don’t always critique things in the exact same order due to various sorts of life interference.
2) Some of the critique comes in electronically for similar reasons.
3) By pure coincidence the Horus rough finished going through Wyrdsmiths in the same week that Pat Rothfuss read and commented on Black School (long story redacted) which is why the latter is part of the spread.
4) I just completely reread Black School and did some revisions there (Pat’s edits plus ret-cons from Eye of Horus) which is why I’m doing the Horus beta now rather than in a month or two which was the original plan.
5) While I know #4 is the smart way to do things under the circumstances, it means I have to put down SpellCrash for about a week in the middle of chapter 1*, which in turn means I’m going to be very hard pressed to get it done in the three months I’m shooting for, so I may be scarce for a little bit while I try to repair the hole in schedule.**
*Black School and WebMage are really incompatible in terms of voice and style and shifting between the two is a major gear strip that costs me a couple of days. This reduces the total time used by taking out two gear strips, but it does it at a bad place in the schedule.
**The schedule it dents is mine, not my publisher’s. According to Ace I have 6 and 1/2 months to finish the book. At this point I expect to use 3-4 of those.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog November 21 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
Friday Cat Blogging
About my shopping list…
The shopping list.*
This is not a top hat. But the fire is good, so I will forgive you…for now.
What are you guys going to do with stilts?
Nothing, for we are the picture of innocence. Check out the ear. Totally innocent.
We are absolutely not plotting the overthrow of the human regime.
We are sleeping. See.
*Per usual, shopping list cat translations provide by Matt Kuchta.
Retro Friday Cat Blogging–Guest Kitties
I’m the king of the world!
Yeah, whatever, take my picture, see if I care.
This is what I would look like on a coat of arms.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog November 21 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)
On Writing and Sanity
So, at the last several talks I’ve given I’ve found myself repeating something that I don’t know that I’ve said here. It’s about how you balance your mental attitude and stay sane in a fundamentally irrational business.
First, the way you should feel about whatever book or story you are writing this very minute, is that it is absolutely your best work ever and will be irresistable to readers.
Second, whatever book or story you are revising or getting critiqued at this very moment, is a solid piece of work that can and will be improved if you work at it and learn from comments.
Third, whatever work you have just finished, is ready to go out to agents or editors and you’re excited to get it in the mail.
Fourth, whatever work has been bought or is being shopped around, no longer exists until and unless a decision is called for on your part.
Fifth, whatever work has been published or set aside is complete and an example of your work at the time, not something that reflects the writer you are now.
Sixth, whatever work you are going to embark on next will be made better by what you will learn from the completion of what you are working on now. So much so that once you have finished the current work, this new project will be the best thing you have ever written, bar non.
(Originally published on the Wyrdsmiths blog November 20 2008, and original comments may be found there. Reposted and reedited as part of the reblogging project)