As much as I wanted to post something new this week, the double whammy of finishing a novel and suddenly finding myself looking for a job hasn't left me with much impetus to finish anything. I have a number of stories open and active in the hopper, including Visions of a New Rome (a New Rome origin story,) but nothing is coalescing and I don't want to force it.
Hopefully, I'll have something ready by next Friday to share.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
A Man of the People (maybe)
Part of yesterday's writing time was spent organizing Elevated. When I write, I use Google Docs as an ersatz version control system and one step of that is to create a release branch of my documents so that I know what I actually published before going back and making more changes. (Chapter 21 has one more round of proofing to go.)
Far more enjoyable was starting to sketch out what may end up being the outline for A Man of the People. I have so many ideas for the next book, some of the original ideas are already slipping towards the third book. (When I first started working on New Rome last year, I was originally planning on writing a novel called The Centurion in my Head, but ultimately decided it introduced too many elements all at once. It's now looking like The Centurion in my Head may end up being the third New Rome novel.)
Far more enjoyable was starting to sketch out what may end up being the outline for A Man of the People. I have so many ideas for the next book, some of the original ideas are already slipping towards the third book. (When I first started working on New Rome last year, I was originally planning on writing a novel called The Centurion in my Head, but ultimately decided it introduced too many elements all at once. It's now looking like The Centurion in my Head may end up being the third New Rome novel.)
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Re-establishing my routine
As things start to settle down a little here, I'm looking to get back into a routine of writing at least ten hours a week - mostly so that I have things to post after the last chapter of Elevated goes up on February 14.
Today I put in about three hours and wrote the first seven pages of They Move Slowly in Winter and it's starting to look like a real story. I also have the first six pages of The First Saturnalia (which almost certainly won't be called that,) but it's not feeling like a story yet. I know how it starts and how I want it to end, but not the middle bit.
Right now, my best-laid plans are to write short stories to release for a month or so while I kick around longer pieces to see which one will keep me engaged for the six months or so it takes me to write a full novel. Right now, the most likely contender is Operation Timestitch, which is also probably not going to be the final title of the story, but it's a do-over story with enough genre-breaking twists to make it interesting. If I can get five solid chapters, I'll probably commit to finishing it and start posting.
Right now, my plan is to post either Folded Too Long or They Move Slowly in Winter on February 21. The former, about a pop star who slips her handlers shortly after her eighteenth birthday, is already in draft, but I think the latter is a stronger story. It's a retelling of Vulgar Argot's Second Billing and Eve, Eventide, but with zombies. If it works out well, I'm going to look at picking up the unfinished Treaty Troops.
Today I put in about three hours and wrote the first seven pages of They Move Slowly in Winter and it's starting to look like a real story. I also have the first six pages of The First Saturnalia (which almost certainly won't be called that,) but it's not feeling like a story yet. I know how it starts and how I want it to end, but not the middle bit.
Right now, my best-laid plans are to write short stories to release for a month or so while I kick around longer pieces to see which one will keep me engaged for the six months or so it takes me to write a full novel. Right now, the most likely contender is Operation Timestitch, which is also probably not going to be the final title of the story, but it's a do-over story with enough genre-breaking twists to make it interesting. If I can get five solid chapters, I'll probably commit to finishing it and start posting.
Right now, my plan is to post either Folded Too Long or They Move Slowly in Winter on February 21. The former, about a pop star who slips her handlers shortly after her eighteenth birthday, is already in draft, but I think the latter is a stronger story. It's a retelling of Vulgar Argot's Second Billing and Eve, Eventide, but with zombies. If it works out well, I'm going to look at picking up the unfinished Treaty Troops.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Elevated Chapter 20 is going to be huge
I just finished the last batch of edits chapter 20 of Elevated needed in order to go to press on storiesonline.net tonight. Aside from all the story content, I should also mention that it is enormous - 46 pages in PDF form. I probably could have split it into two chapters and might on the rewrite, but it's all coming out tonight.
Mandrake and Dreadflower are doing a phenomenal job catching not only typos, but weird and awkward bits that detract from the overall quality of the story. They deserve a huge amount of credit for the smoothness of Elevated as a read.
I still haven't written much new since finishing and next week's conclusion of Elevated is the only piece left in the publishing backlog. On the plus side, it appears like my career hiccup is more or less resolved, so hopefully I'll be writing again soon.
UPDATE: Chapter 20 is posted as of 9:30 PM. It should be available soon.
Mandrake and Dreadflower are doing a phenomenal job catching not only typos, but weird and awkward bits that detract from the overall quality of the story. They deserve a huge amount of credit for the smoothness of Elevated as a read.
I still haven't written much new since finishing and next week's conclusion of Elevated is the only piece left in the publishing backlog. On the plus side, it appears like my career hiccup is more or less resolved, so hopefully I'll be writing again soon.
UPDATE: Chapter 20 is posted as of 9:30 PM. It should be available soon.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Dusting off my keyboard
For the first time since I finished writing Elevated, I've done some new writing today. I'm working on a story putatively called The First Saturnalia, which spells out a lot of the details of how New Rome got its start. I've been sort of coy with the details because the founding has such a different tone than the events in Elevated. I hope I telegraphed well enough the nature of Briannus Metallicus and Caesar Mauritius's "genius" and why they were able to alter history so much, but maybe I was too subtle.
I've always found that finishing a novel as a writer is a little bit devastating. It's like ending a relationship or losing a friend. All of a sudden, something that took up a big portion of your days is gone and you're left scrambling to find something to fill those hours. New stories you're just not as invested in don't give the same high that drawing a well-written story to a satisfying conclusion does. It's hard to get back into the rhythm of it.
On top of that, I've had a professional interruption, which means that the other thing that took up big chunks of my day has been missing. Between the two, I've been a bit adrift for the last two weeks, but writing felt pretty good today.
I've always found that finishing a novel as a writer is a little bit devastating. It's like ending a relationship or losing a friend. All of a sudden, something that took up a big portion of your days is gone and you're left scrambling to find something to fill those hours. New stories you're just not as invested in don't give the same high that drawing a well-written story to a satisfying conclusion does. It's hard to get back into the rhythm of it.
On top of that, I've had a professional interruption, which means that the other thing that took up big chunks of my day has been missing. Between the two, I've been a bit adrift for the last two weeks, but writing felt pretty good today.
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