Writing is just a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia

Wow has it been forever!

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:41:58 GMT

A lot has happened since I past posted in here and for various reasons, I hadn't been writing. I intend to change that. I have a nearly finished shortish story for bbshousetsu on LJ that I may actually get done in time for the next issue. If so, I'll post it in here. If not, I'll submit it for the next issue and post it then. Either way, um, sorry I haven't been writing?

On the plus side, I now work at Random House and actually like my job instead of dreading the crap temp job I had at Morgan Stanley! That's something!

EDIT: So apparently I need to write about writing more because I just finished that story. Needs editing and a good beta read but it's done. :D

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Oh hello.

Mon, 30 May 2011 14:15:43 GMT

I've been promising I'd write for ages, but my job (which I'm looking to leave) Is killing my time and creativity. However, I think I'll be changing my layout soon and hopefully I can post some of the stuff i have managed to write.

I've been editing my nano novel as well as reeling over the fact I've been essentially asked to write a screen play for actual monies! More details on this later; i just wanted to poke my head in.

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Oh hai.

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:59:10 GMT

So...I'm writing a steampunk story at the moment. It's for bb_shousetsu over on LJ, but I have a secondary plot point that won't be introduced in this story that would go very far towards making this short story an full length novel instead. I still have to finish and edit my nano project, but I do tend to work better with a deadline, so I want to write this now while I have an actual due date.

I know next to nothing about steampunk, but the fun thing about the genre is that you can take the general guidelines (victorian meets science, spinkle with gears and brass and goggles, bake for 30 minutes, season to taste) and create your own steampunk world. I've got a fair amount of resources for when I'm ready to actually world-building, but bb_shousetsu story doesn't need that level of depth for the length it's going to be. I think.

I haven't finished anything in a little while again, so I'm looking forward to actually doing so. Um...that's all for now, just wanted to actually update this thing.

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And now for something completely different...

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:16:31 GMT

Bitten by Books is having a contest for the release of the Spirit Eater, the 3rd book in the Legend of Eli Monpress series. Please, go check it out!

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Everyone else was doing it.

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:36:32 GMT

Meant to post this the other day, but whatevs.

Now, after a break, I get to pretty much redo the whole thing because it's going to be at least twice as long as I originally intended. Or something.

Lawd Almighty, I won.

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This post is mostly just to use this icon

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 05:29:45 GMT

Sooo...I DID IT! I hit 50K during tonight's NYPL write-in! I've won my very first Nano ever! Did I win? Yes. Am I finished? Hell no. There's a LOT left to do. I also realized that this series would go so much better if instead of reasonably long books in a 3-part series, it was a 5+ book series of shorter novels. Just based on the sheer amount of crap that's going on. It's just too much to cram into three. It'd tired out the brain trying to go through all of that.

I deserve a huge reward! Excerpt coming soon!

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My brain hurts.

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 05:51:08 GMT

Haven't posted in a while again, but I hit a real milestone this week, which as surprising considering how many days I felt like I was pulling teeth to get the minimum word count out. However, I hit 40K on Sunday, 45K on Tuesday, and am literally 1111 words away from finishing now. I expect to get 'er done tomorrow (technically later today) during the write-in. There's a scene I wrote just to make my characters happy that SO WILL NOT BE IN THE FINAL EDIT, but whatever, it counts for the word count.

Once I hit 50K, you guys get another excerpt, and I get to figure out what needs to be done to actually finish this story.

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Oops.

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:33:48 GMT

Haven't posted here since last week. I broke 30k on Monday! I am feeling quite accomplished even though I look at my outline and go "wtf was this what I was supposed to be writing?" Because ummmm, it's not really? Anymore?

Also, I realized all my excerpts so far were like...um horrible nightmarish things and wanted to point out that YES THERE ARE GOOD PARTS TOO. There is ROMANCE or something like it. ANYWAY I am clearly on crack as you can see from the random caps, so here is a HAPPY EXCERPT OKBYE.

( Bow chicka bow bow! )

No, I have no idea who the hell Marisol is. Bitch showed up in my story without permission.

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MY BRAIN

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:57:47 GMT

So, we're about to finish up at the Mid-Manhattan Library write-in. I wrote over 2000 words in under 2 hours bringing my total up over 20,000. According to y stats, at this rate I'll hit 50,000 by November 13. That doesn't mean I'll be done though.

There's so much plot left to happen and it would be nice to actually...get to it. I think tomorrow I'll try to write an action scene, just to see how it plays out.

For now:

Another excerpt to come later.

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An excerpt!

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:59:51 GMT

For those of you reading along. I haven't looked at my outline in two days and I have no idea where I am except that I have over 17k words of...stuff. So here's some stuff for you.

( You may want to not be eating when you read this )

My brain is so wiped that I'm going to bed before the 11 o'clock news. What is this?

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Oh my God my braaaain.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:04:14 GMT

So by day three of Nano, you should have 5,000 words. I currently have a little over 15,300. My brain hurts, but it is a beautiful pain. I'm a third of the way through, and apparently if I only write 1285 more words a day for the rest of the month, I'll still be on target. Considering I'm writing about 5000 words a day, I think I'll be all right.

At the moment though my brain feels like it was pounded with a dull spoon and I can barely string two words together. So I'm gonna cut this short and go nurse my pudding-brain.

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Holy crap.

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 16:34:23 GMT

Two days into nano and I'm at over 10,000 words. I'm incredibly proud of myself. I have no idea what the hell I've written but that's not the focus right now. I'm just opening my brain and letting words fall out and I'll worry about making editing changes and, well, sense later on.

I posted an excerpt in my nano profile, and I'll share it here.

"Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled and I picked up my pace, running around two small children playing with a pink and red colored ball. The sun shone brightly through the trees as I chased the figure ahead of me, and I held up a hand to shade my eyes from the suddenly blinding light. The figure ahead hopped over a low park bench, but I went around, suddenly feeling like I couldn't possibly jump that high. To my left, a flock of crows suddenly fled the tree they were hiding in, their cawing sounding more like laughter than like a simple bird-call.

I made the mistake of looking at them as they took off, and when I turned back to my chase, the figure ahead of me was gone. I didn't stop running though, even though I knew I'd lost whoever it was. I ran until I found an old playground in a forgotten part of the park, rundown, and rusting. The old metal slide had chipped paint and the bottom rung of the ladder was broken. The swings were in worse shape. The chains holding some were broken, leaving the swings to hang and move sadly in the wind. One swing was missing entirely, the two long chains dangling off into nothing. In the far side, near the broken sprinkler, a small child was huddled.

This wasn't whom I'd chased here, and yet I approached her anyway. She was maybe about seven years old, with brown curly pigtails, and was holding a small blond doll. I had slowed to a walk as soon as I reached the playground, and I kept a cautious pace as I came closer. "Hi," I said, uncertainly. "Are you okay?"

The little girl lifted a tear-stained face and looked up at me, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she just closed her eyes and screamed.

Yeah it was writing this that helped cement the fact that my genre has shifted from the last shreds of fantasy into horror and supernatural. Bring on the fear factor. I wrote a second scene similar to this one that...was creepier honestly, and I'll probably post that excerpt a little later.

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Off to a great start!

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:16:11 GMT

I had a goal set for day 1. 1667 words is where you should be aiming. I signed up for a challenge to hit 5000 on day one. I hit 5000 in three hours. With that under my belt, I'm hitting the hay for now, and seeing how much more I can get done during the day. I hope I keep up this steam!

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Oh what medication does to my brain.

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:41:11 GMT

I woke up out of my Thera-Flu induced sleep to wrote down a plotbunny. When I woke up for real real hours later, I sat down and proceeded to come up with two more secondary/tertiary characters for my nano novel. I'm surprised I hadn't realized how necessary they were until now. I've even figured how exactly how they fit in. They have their own interesting abilities that will help or maybe hinder the progress of everything else.

Oh and I added some more images to my last post. :D

Basically I had one of those brain-splodey moments AND IT NEEDS TO BE MONDAY NOW SO I CAN START WRITING. I'm going crazy with the pre-planning.

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Nano Banners!

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:38:08 GMT

I made nano banners for my novel(s)! (idea/format totally stolen from Ai)

I'm working on Dream Walker for nano, and the others will come...later. >.> For now I'm gonna go make some soup because I'm sick. I just hope I'm all ready and energetic by the time Nov. 1st rolls around. I don't expect to be sick that long, but you never know.

The banner for Nightmare makes me think that one will be creepier than the others. Awesome.

( Stuff below the cut )

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Too much rock for one hand baby!

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:27:38 GMT

\mm/

I wrote over 2000 words in under three hours. If I can keep up this kind of steam, then nano shouldn't be as difficult as I've been worrying. If I can get ahead early on, maybe if I stall a little later I can still keep up and win it!

Another excerpt from my bb shousetu story:

23rd October 2010

Still no sign of Chang anywhere. I've been back every night, just a few hours, just in case. I don't want to skip a night, in case he shows up the one night I choose not to go. I have no other way to contact him. We didn't exchange numbers, emails, anything. All I can do is go to the one place I saw him and hope he shows up there again. So far, it's been nothing but disappointment.

I should just let it go, right? It was a one night stand, maybe it didn't mean anything to him. I was pretty drunk, I could have imagined some of it. Like the weird town I thought I was in. The more I try to remember, the fuzzier it all is, but I could swear I all stumbled out away from everyone else. The party was in a huge field, we we could get away with underage drinking, where no one was around. I walked away from everyone, and just kept walking until I fell over something. The ground was comfortable, I remember that, and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a bedroom, inside a house huge enough to be a mansion. Soft sheets, cool pillows, and a beautiful stranger looking at me.

I came onto him, I think. I mean I was really drunk and he was just gorgeous. I thought he might have been a girl at first, he was that pretty. But that didn't stop me, and Chang didn't either. I woke up alone, but he'd left that red scarf with me. I didn't dream him. I couldn't have.
--Shuo

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An excerpt

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:24:06 GMT

This is from the story I'm working on for BB Shousetsu, which may or may not be done in time for the deadline.

11th October 2010 4:35 PM

I still can't find him. I've been back to the same spot every day for over three weeks straight. No, it's actually been closer to a month. I can't sleep well, I can't concentrate. At times I feel like I don't even want to. TJ and Kim keep saying I'm acting crazy, like a man possessed, and maybe they're right, but I just can't let go. I go through my classes like a robot, not participating, not even hearing what anyone's saying. There's a fine line between a powerful infatuation and obsession, and I think I crossed it at least a week ago.

I skipped class after lunch and went back to the field. It's kind of pathetic, but I spent hours sitting there, in that same field where I woke up after Mei Ling's party on this past Thursday. If I wasn't still holding that red scarf, the taste of Chang still on my lips, I would have thought it had been a dream. But he's real; his scarf's still right next to me. It's like a mantra; I keep thinking it, saying it over and over, day by day. I can't stop thinking about him.
--Shuo

There's more written but I'll post the remainder later.

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Finally some more inspiration!

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:02:28 GMT

While going through my outline today, I realized something pretty terrible has to happen to the second main character in my story. Not the one whose POV it's from, the other one. This isn't just for the sake of something to happen; I realized that based on the circumstances, there's no way that after certain things happen (kidnapping, forced sleeplessness), there's no way he wouldn't be a little messed up in the head after this. It's a new conflict to work with, and something to propel the third part of the story along.

Now to research the effect of lack of sleep. It ain't gonna be pretty.

I've figured out a little more about two of the supporting characters as well, the twins Delia and Cynthia. I...just need a last name for them >.>

EDIT: And the four main characters all have names. Jared Williams, Shannon Reilly, and Cynthia and Delia Kostas. I also came up with a few more creepy creatures to add into my whole dream creatures roster. It also just occurred to me I pretty much have zombies in my story.

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Slowly but surely

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:05:03 GMT

I signed up for nanowrimo. I don't know what I was thinking but I'm gonna do my best. I have an idea already, something I've been working on planning out for a while. I'm taking the novel I was gonna do for 2YN and use it for nano instead. I have plenty otehr ideas to use for 2YN. I have characters, names, I've done some world-building, etc, but no actual writing yet, so that's pretty much perfect right? I have icons. I - shit we need more coffee filters - have some resources. I have a few people I know are doing it too. I just need to be able to get stuff done, is all.

My handle on the forums is actionreaction if anyone wants buddies. I'm nervous :X

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And still further progress!

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:25:13 GMT

I did more brainstorming than writing today, but I did add a few paragraphs to Ai's birthday fic. It won't be entirely done by the 30th, but I can give her parts of it, enough for the surprise factor anyway :D Current word count is 1039.

I also managed to find a tale to work with for my BB Shousetsu story though. I was torn between just doing folkloric elements, or actually revisiting an existing tale, and found a happy medium. I'll be working with the moon rabbit but not strictly from Chinese or Japanese legends. I'm was thinking of tinkering with the Native American aspect as well, so this could be an exercise in fun or frustration for me. We'll see which. I'm hoping to actually get to writing it soon, but I want to get to a decent point in Ai's fic first, thus I have no word count to speak of yet.

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Progress

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:40:16 GMT

So I'm gonna try to use this to start marking progress on full length novels as well as posting the shorter stuff that I uh, haven't been posting. >.>

Anyway current projects:

1. birthday fic for Ai. No details for now because it'll be a surprise. Will be posted here when it's done. It's coming along well though, and I gotta try my damndest to get it done in time.

2. BB Shousetsu submission. Folkloric, slashy, pr0ny, will be posted when done. It'll be f-locked here, but I'm gonna post a link to the public submission as well. I'm thinking of submitting it to Torquere Press when it's done, if it fits criteria. My idea so far is very basic. I know it's going to be very vaguely like Brigadoon, but I don't want it to just seem like "a version" of it. Still the feeling of the town being there one moment and gone another is a big part of it. I only have a few sentences written.

3. The Oneric Chronicles. This is my Novel in Two Years project that's...not quite where it should be, but I'm still plugging along.

So that's all for now, but I'm in a hell of a good mood right now :D

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