The Big Week of Fiction Only includes Getting My Ass Kicked

By Holly Lisle

Vipers' Nest
Vipers’ Nest

Monday morning…

Wild Optimism. Will have Vipers’ Nest done by end of day Tuesday.

Seven hours in, I was only a short way into the new bug-hunter’s sheet I’d started.

Tuesday morning…

Well, I’ll surely at least be finished with this one bug-hunter’s questions by the end of today.

Seven hours later, I’d finished one third of of the SAME bug-hunter’s finds. And that’s working straight through, no food, coffee and water only, two bathroom breaks.

Wednesday morning…

I’m still just one THIRD of the way through the questions I started on Monday from this one particular bug hunter, many of which have resulted in additional detail, and one in an entirely new chapter.

If they weren’t good, thoughtful, necessary questions, the book would be for sale by now.

But it wouldn’t be as good. 

HOWEVER…

How to Write Short Stories
How to Write Short Stories

I have writers waiting for their revision lesson in the Short Stories class, and until I revise A Few Good Men, and scan all my red-ink manuscript slaughter and filled-in worksheets demonstrating the process of thoughtfully and intently ripping a story to bloody shreds to get a BETTER story, they can’t get their lesson.

So today, Vipers’ Nest goes on the back burner until the revision for A Few Good Men is complete.

Wanna hear something funny?

I think I can get this revised today. You may laugh. Even as I wrote the words, my Muse snorted. The bitch.

At least I’ve already filled in most of my worksheets. 😀

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


So today I built the Bug-Hunter edition of Longview 5

By Holly Lisle

Today I spent three Patreon hours putting together the bug-hunter version of Longview 5: The One With The Broken Title.

This involved cleaning up a significant amount of weird formatting in Scrivener — (my fault) — moving the project into .docx, then opening it in Vellum and doing the actual book formatting, setting and revising front matter, end matter, hand-setting the chapter heads and subheads, hand-setting the special text, picking the styles, and other little bits to make it look as close to the finished version as I can come.

It’s important that bug-hunters see the equivalent of finished text, and have real page numbers to work from. Books in double-spaced Courier look different, and some things get missed that show up in … hell … whatever font I ended up picking for the finished version. It’s a nice font.

Email requesting volunteers to bug-hunt will go out late this afternoon MY time, deadline is going to be about a week to read and get the bugs back to me.

I’ve heard back from some of my previous bug hunters, once the invite goes out, will pick six folks I’ve worked with before who did really good work, and six new folks.

I’ll be looking for a mix of folks who HAVE read the previous stories, and those who HAVEN’T, because each story needs to stand on its own.

And just for this book, bug-hunters who find a phrase or a situation in the story that would make a good title will be asked to include that with their bug-hunter sheets.

Because — DAMN. Vipers’ Nest was targeted right at the heart of the story, until the heart jumped five meters to the right and threw itself on the ground to avoid me. Now I don’t know what to call the thing.

This isn’t going to work…

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Longview 5 is DONE! (But isn’t Vipers’ Nest anymore)

By Holly Lisle

I’m going to need some beta readers for the story that was going to be Vipers’ Nest.

So much changed in the writing of it that the Vipers’ Nest in that title turned into a side plot, and the title no longer fits.

As I mention in the afterword (written just a few minutes ago) things change. This time they changed in magnificent ways. But they TOTALLY broke my title, so I’m going to be brainstorming new titles, too.

And because of a rather stupid cleanup of what I though were duplicates of a lot of old text files a month or so ago, I’ve discovered today that my lists of beta readers are gone to the Land of Lost Pixels.

A couple hours of hunting have given me a list of new swear words, but no old lists.

If you want to help me by beta reading / Bug hunting (it’s the same thing) THIS book, here are the steps:

  • If you’re not already on my Everyone In One Place mailing list, sign up here.
  • If you’re already on the list, or once you’ve signed up, watch for the email going out at two PM today, which will also go out again at two PM tomorrow for folks who miss it. It’s going to be titled The Beta Reader / Bug Hunter Invitation.
  • Beta Reader / Bug Hunter is going to be one of the choices in the “Choose your own adventure” game, but I’m still putting that together, and I actually need some bug hunters now.

If you would love to Beta Read/Bug Hunt, but missed this post and are reading after 2PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 13th, 2018, don’t worry.

I’m still putting together the Adventure, and once it’s built, everyone on the Everyone In One Place list will get to play through, pick your paths, and start doing some cool things or reading some new things, depending on the adventure you choose.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Finished the revision of Vipers’ Nest!

By Holly Lisle

It’s done! It feels like I’ve been working on Vipers’ Nest forever.

I can’t believe it, but it’s finally fully and completely revised, and I LOVE the way it came out.

This has been a brutal project, because it hit in the middle of personal chaos, website chaos, GDPR chaos…

And for the longest time, I couldn’t find the ending.

Well, yesterday I suddenly realized what had to happen to get me to the ending, and ripped out one old scene, and wrote one brand new scene today, and nailed it.

It took me four and a half hours from the time I started today until the time I did my many, many back-up saves.

But THIS is the story I wanted to write.

So now there are the following steps I have to get through before the book goes live.

  • Matt has to fit me in between clients for a content edit.
  • I have to revise to his edit.
  • I have to gather up volunteers for a bug hunt.
  • I have to revise to clean up what the bug hunters find
  • I have to build the publishable edition of the book, assign ISBNs, and put it up on all the sites where it’s going.

I’m going wide with this one — publishing it from the very beginning on every site that I can find that will pay me regularly and reliably.

From this point on, I’m eschewing Amazon exclusives. They haven’t done anything for my sales, and they have kept my books off of other platforms. I gave them the best run I could, and I can only conclude that following that path is not in my best interests.

So I have everything working its way out of KDP select, and by the time I have everything done to take Vipers’ Nest live, MOST everything else will be available for distribution elsewhere.

So… Back to work. Still have about a few thousand more words to write of How to Write Short Stories Lesson 4: How to END Short — Landing, Twist, Resolution, and Meaning.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Three hours of writing, and the third first draft of Vipers’ Nest is now done!

By Holly Lisle

The story came in at 30,073 words. Close enough to the 30,000 I’d planned to make me happy.

It’s really different this time. I ended up not using anything from the previous (two – sigh) first drafts.

The story focuses on Shay, Melie, Wils Bailey (THE Bailey from Bailey’s Irish Space Station), the station, Herog (and peripherally Cady), and on the PWAs execution of its plan to destroy both the Longview and Bailey’s.

Fair warning. This story has one tiny cliffhanger in it that will not be resolved until the opening scene of Wishbone Conspiracy, which will be the next Cadence Drake novel. If you keep the highlighted sentence in mind as you read Vipers’ Nest, it won’t be a cliffhanger.

So next week I’ll start on the revision. Will as promised revise the first chapter (or two) on video for the Patreon Hero level, and talk through what I’m changing and why.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Site updates to reflect what I’m doing as a writer

By Holly Lisle

I’m doing some rearranging of the site. I’ll be adding links to what I’m creating. Aside from semi-regular posts in the blog and the occasional new writing article or fiction snippet, I’ve been running the blog along for years without doing much with it.

But here’s the thing:

  • I’m back to writing new fiction every weekday.
  • I’m back to writing new writing classes every weekday.

And because I’m once again steadily releasing new fiction and new nonfiction, I once again have things even blog regulars haven’t seen.

So I’m adding a sidebar with book covers and links to my fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction Update

Vipers' Nest
I’m still slogging Longview 5: Vipers’ Nest. Following that will be Longview 6: STILL DON’T HAVE A TITLE.

Once I’ve finished SDHAT (yes, tiny little joke), I’ll write Moon & Sun 3: Emerald Sun.

And following Emerald Sun, I’ll go after Cadence Drake and The Wishbone Conspiracy. Parts for that have now gone into Longview 5, and in a much bigger and more surprising way than I’d anticipated.

Cookies were involved. BIG Cookies.

How long will all of this take? Depends. I’m currently writing fiction one hour a day. If I can get the funding to cover it, I can expand that to two hours a day of pure fiction writing and revision. Which means both Moon & Sun 3: Emerald Sun, and The Wishbone Conspiracy will happen twice as fast.

Nonfiction Update

How to Write VillainsI did the first thousand words of How to Write Villains: Lesson 6 today. When I complete lesson six, I’ll have two more lessons to write to finish the class.

THEN I’ll take a week to tear apart all the questions folks have asked me for How to Write Short Stories and from that build a class outline, and will then start writing the lessons.

If you have questions about writing short stories…

Go to: https://hollyswritingclasses.com/go/class-login.html

Login to your Holly’s Writing Classes account here:

OR Create a free account here: https://hollyswritingclasses.com/free/join.html

And then check to see if your questions have already been asked here: http://hollyswritingclasses.com/go/class-builder-short-stories.html

If your questions haven’t been asked, please ask them soon. Once I finish writing Villains, I’ll start the NEXT DAY on figuring out what needs to go into Short Stories.

From there, it’ll take me about a week to go over all the questions and figure out how to build the class that will walk folks through writing good short stories. (And an unknown number of months to actually write the class.)

After that, I’m building How To Write A Novel, which isn’t about building a writing career or generating series ideas or revising and prepping the book or doing marketing or anything else in How to Think Sideways.

It’s just about putting together the story you want to write, and then writing it.

If this interests you, there’s a place where you can ask questions or describe problems you’ve had with the process, and again, I’ll build the class to answer the questions and show how to fix the problems folks present. If this interests you, use the same login or account creation links above, but go here to ask your questions or describe your problems:

http://hollyswritingclasses.com/go/class-builder-novel.html

I’m having fun. This is the kind of writing I love most — lots of work, lots of progress, fiction and nonfiction.

And getting shit done. I LOVE getting shit done.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Cady has a bounty hunter on her trail.

By Holly Lisle

Someone forwarded me a deep space transmission that suggests my old friend Cadence Drake is in more trouble than usual.

You might know Cady. Spaceship pilot, independent finder of lost things out in settled space?

Has mad skills in locating people? And trouble?

No?

Well, my unknown ally has said I’ll receive all the interceptions findable that run from the bounty hunter tracking Cady to the client who’s paying to have her tracked.(Evidently the transmissions in the ​other direction are better hidden.)

And if you’re willing to read through these transmissions and see if you can pick up any clues about:

  • Who the client is
  • Why he or she is looking for Cady
  • Who the person sending me these intercepts is
  • Or where Cady might be and whether she’s okay or not…

 

…I’d appreciate the help.

You can email me by replying to any of the intercepts, and let me know what your theory is.

Want to get a look at the bounty hunter’s first transmission?

Send me the transmissions.

If you’re willing to help me out here, I appreciate it. I get the feeling that what’s coming after Cady is big and bad.

Holly

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Longview 4: Gunslinger Moon — Free downloadable sample

By Holly Lisle

IN THIS EPISODE: Gunslinger Moon

When freedom is silenced, who speaks for it?

Ex-PHTF slave WE-39R (This Criminal, from Episode 1), renamed Jex, is part of a team the Longview’s owner has tasked with finding the meaning behind Bashtyk Nokyd’s enigmatic final diagram. Drawing the most undesirable assignment, Jex and an unlikely ally fight their way to pieces of the truth.

Want to read the first three chapters to see if you’d like the story?

This is the fourth story in the Tales from the Longview series, and like the others, it stands alone (though you’ll find a much bigger connecting story if you read them in order).

Other stories:

The free PDF sample below is sharable anywhere.

And I hope you enjoy the story.

 

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


So… Free Stories for SF and Fantasy Readers? Yep…

By Holly Lisle

I’ve been doing “indie” stuff to get ready for bringing out Longview #4: Gunslinger Moon.

I’ve put together a special SF & F Reader Notification list for folks who like the genres, and set up two free stories that you can get.

OddfolksThe first you receive automatically when you join the list. Oddfolks is “odd fantasy.”

You sign up and confirm your email address, and you receive a confirmation email that includes the link to Oddfolks. There are two very short stories in the little book, along with details of the bigger project I hope it becomes.

Last Thorsday NightThe second story?

Last Thorsday Night is longer (about 8000 words), and previously published — but none of my SF & F readers will have found it. It’s time travel SF and I love it, and I hope you will too.

In the confirmation email that takes you to Oddfolks, you’ll ALSO receive the option to recommend the first story (and by extension, me as a writer you think folks would like), and get a special link you can use to do that. And if two folks sign up through your link, you get the free story as my thank you for helping me reach new folks.

Please don’t sign up through your own link just to get the second story. I kept the number of folks you need to earn your reward really low so that you could actually help me find new folks.

Why am I doing this?

Because it’s tough being an indie, tough reaching new readers, and I’m hoping that ahead of bringing out all three existing Longview stories with new covers and formatting, and offering them in print versions, too, and launching Gunslinger Moon in both ebook and print format, I can have a nice group of genuine SF/fantasy fans who will be looking forward to reading it.

Maybe reviewing it on Amazon.

Get Oddfolks just for signing up.


UPDATED AND IMPORTANT 12/16/17

Referral links for this sign-up form did not work on this page.

So I created a page where they do work.


OddfolksGet Oddfolks immediately after you confirm, and Last Thorsday Night when two new readers join my list through your link.

Important: Your Confirmation Email will come from Perkzilla, as will your download link to your copy of Last Thorsday Night when two new readers have signed up through your link.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved


Currently on the Needles

By Holly Lisle

  • I have the next to last lesson in How to Write a Series almost finished
  • THREE repubbed novels  now working through a launch under a pseudonym (my first voluntary one)
  • Six novellas I’m reworking, editing, and updating with new covers, formatting, debugging, and other clean-up, including the next NEW story, Longview #4: Gunslinger Moon
  • One Really Spiffy Thing For Writers that’s going out via email tomorrow at ten AM (if you’re a fiction writer and you’re not on my updates list, use the little slider form below to sign up, because this is a one-time EVER thing, and it’s big) — and be sure to click the Segmenting Tag for “writer” when you get that email.

 

If the words “And a Partridge in a Pear Tree” drifted through your mind… you are not alone. ‘Tis the season, and I’m head down and working really hard.

So I need a breather for the little down time I have. Something to let me wind down.

I think of this as “potato chip knitting.”

Because you just do a little at a time, just like writing a novel. And as long as you keep at it, you see progress. And in my case, I make it up as I go — though the chips can get a bit weird, and go wrong sometimes.

Of course I have pictures. 😀

After a wrong approach, you rip back. I pulled out the entire front panel and neckline.

Finished my FIFTH attempt last night, and it’s a keeper.

The picture of him wrapped in the damn thing while trying to drag it to the floor to have his way with it does not exist. Because my choice was “get the picture” or “save the sweater.”

I saved the sweater. Still have the sleeves and collar to go, plus buttons and I-cord fasteners. And sewing in all those ends. But I have enough of it now that I thought it was worth showing off.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved