Good writing day today in spite of having to fight with some software. Not the software’s fault, but owning both the version sold by Apple and the version sold by the software’s creator… Should not be news to anyone, but buying from the creator turns out to be the way to go. You get fantastic… Continue reading Attics and Basements and Monsters, Oh, MY!!!
Category: Writing Fiction
Last day of the year… and about ready to get back to work
It hasn’t been the best year in my life. It hasn’t been the worst, either. I wrecked four first drafts of my Ohio Series (books two through five) by exuberatant pantsing. After a longish Think Week and some time spent away from fiction writing and away from deadlines, I’m rested and ready to go through… Continue reading Last day of the year… and about ready to get back to work
Why I’ve been AWOL from blogging (AKA the dangers of stand-sliding on the playground)
In my first run through my five-novel Ohio series, I carefully plotted the first book, wrote it, love it… And carefully plotted the next four books. Followed by ignoring my outlines and pantsing the novels. Why? Because it was fun, it was exciting, it was like being a kindergarten kid again, standing on the top… Continue reading Why I’ve been AWOL from blogging (AKA the dangers of stand-sliding on the playground)
Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD
When I was a kid and my family lived on the western tundra of Alaska, my dad took me hunting and fishing with him. We were bringing in food for the table in a place where agriculture was impossible. I loved tagging along and helping out. I was nine, so for hunting I was just… Continue reading Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD
The Ohio Novels: Sheldon, Because…
I’m revising. It’s a process. I’m doing back-to-back read-throughs of five novels (over 500,000 words of fiction, and then I’ll be doing the work to make them the books I want them to be). First draft is where I explore what the story can become. That’s all finished. Revision is where it becomes the story… Continue reading The Ohio Novels: Sheldon, Because…
To 169 on the write-in of Ohio 2
A lot of stuff is going from this part, to be replaced by some significantly better stuff following a line of thought my editor pointed out to me. I’m excited by how things started coming together here.
Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!
Book 2 has a lot of salvageable material. A lot of awesome world stuff, some wonderfully funny scenes, some pretty scary scenes. It was fun for me to read, and I made myself laugh a bunch of times, got a little teary-eyed, did a light revision and passed it off to my Editor. Matt, however,… Continue reading Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!
And more of the same… OHIO 2 (NO… THREE) Revision
I’m going through all five novels. At the moment, I’m tearing apart Book One, which I got right, to find out where I need to take Book Two THREE in the revision. It’s a complicated process, and I’m managing to give myself regular headaches going through it. And all of this is my own damn… Continue reading And more of the same… OHIO 2 (NO… THREE) Revision
Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3
There’s damn little I’m going to be able to save. Ohio 3 is lost in the weeds. So at this point, I’m barely even looking for things to save. I’m just looking for the story I wanted to tell but didn’t, and if I can use any of what I already wrote, great. If not…… Continue reading Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3
Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.
The first sixty pages of Ohio 3 held up fine. Starting on manuscript page 61, I went in exactly the wrong direction, dropped the really good local character I had in place for one who broke my otherwise tight worldbuilding through two novels and the start of this one all to shit, threw in a… Continue reading Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.
