Yearly Archives: 2017

What is a novel?

So! Grimaulkin 2 is going along smashingly. 15K words so far with an average of 1000 words a day, except weekends which I can top 2K words a day.

I got my first one-star review from Homecoming. Basically, he said I had no plot. At first, I laughed it off. “You just don’t understand.” Then I thought about it, and I thought about the editing of War Mage, when the editor said, “All they’re doing is running around saying, ‘There’s dragons!'” I was so into being authentic that I didn’t develop a typical plot.

Now, I usually write toward a theme. Homecoming was “Home is where the heart is.” War Mage is “Friends are in surprising places.” Grimaulkin, I notice, doesn’t have a theme that I wrote toward, but it does have a plot (two of them, in fact). The stories in Water don’t have much of a theme or plot, because, well, it’s all sex.

Anyway, back to the one-star review and how I now think about War Mage. War Mage has no typical plot. Meaning protagonist vs. antagonist. Well, it does, but there’s garbage in between. The “oh look, there’s dragons” scenes. I could tell War Mage in a short story if I wanted to. But what is a novel if not a main plot with side plots along the way? Unless I’m looking at the construction wrong.

I’ve noticed, after reading some craft books, that novels are “protagonist in constant struggle.” Take a protagonist, throw in assorted things to block him, ratchet up the conflict as you go along, and have him succeed or fail. Thank you, Joseph Campbell.

So now, this is expected. Is this what makes a best selling story? Or is it something original? I will admit, I haven’t read a lot of fiction over the past couple of years, concentrating mostly on craft books because they’re easier to read/listen to in chunks. Fiction I have to keep the story in mind, and when I’m writing a story, I don’t want to have another story in my head to distract me. Maybe I should pick up a few short stories to get the idea of what people are looking for, and deconstruct those. Or break down a novel or two that I’ve already read.

I’m thinking Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series, which is what I’m basing Grim a lot on. To me, there’s a main plot with side plots. Repairman Jack has a main plot that goes through the entire novel with one or two side plots that continue through the books. One book I read two years ago had one plot throughout the entire thing, with assorted conflicts for the protagonist–the typical story that the craft books tell me to write. Until the author killed off a main character, I thought the story was boring. Then I threw it across the room in disgust, knowing that was just a ploy to make things exciting. Another story I read last year had a deus ex machina that pissed me the hell off. The last book I’m reading, which is gay erotic romance, has stalled out in the middle and I’ve put it aside not caring what happens to the main protagonist going home to his family (I expect that he’ll suddenly get a spine; I can see that coming a mile away).

What I’m going to do is let the editor take a look at War Mage. If it doesn’t have a plot, then I’ll think about what plot to put in and weave it through the story, with the authentic scenes in the middle. Grimaulkin, I feel confident in. Water, is, well, meh (except Scorpio–I’m proud of that one).  I need to drag Grimaulkin 2’s plot a little longer than it is. I have a two-week time period to play with, and a lot can happen then.

Decisions, decisions

So, at present, Water and Grimaulkin are at the editor’s. Grimaulkin Tempted is up to 10K words already and I’m in need of another subplot. So far I have:

Main plot: Scott’s ex comes back.
Subplot A: Becky, his cousin, is being followed by a mysterious person.
Subplot B: Mike is being used as the downstairs mover.

I need a magical subplot C, something to get the Rosicrucians involved again. Or a subplot D, another Satanic murder (though that’s going to be be in the third book, I think). Another minor demon involved? Not sure. Also maybe something involving Rufus, the dog.

Earth is going to be the next erotica series, I think. I need to do more research on the Earth signs to find out good places to put them, and what powers they control.

Also, I was reminded of War Mage. In my excitement over Grim, I’ve let that go to the wayside. I didn’t care much for some of the editing, and so I put it aside. I tried to rewrite it from the beginning based on my beta reader’s suggestions, but it just didn’t want to work. Jake Logan is a gay writer. L.A. Jacob can write both gay and straight, but the military has to come from Jake. L.A. Jacob reins in the sex part, which is why the sex is alluded to in War Mage, not explicit. The Dark Prison, the third book, has no sex (yet). War Mage has to be complete by July for a September release.

Man, I have so many irons in the fire. And I’m going to buy a microphone to start doing podcasts! Maybe. But I am buying a mike. The podcast will be about writing and magic. I will probably have it “sponsored” by Paper Angel Press and Zarra Knightley Publishing. In other words, I’ll shill their books. Not sure about author interviews yet. I’m not one of the best interviewers –it’s been a very long time since I’ve done interviews. There’s one podcast I listen to where the guy asks the same questions of every guest, and I don’t want to do that. You can tell he doesn’t do much research on the guests he has.

So that seems like enough for this week.

Water–Finished!

I just finished Water and sent it off to the publisher: Zarra Knightley Publishing. 48K words in total.

Grimaulkin is in editing. Hopefully that’ll be done by the end of March so I can have it by June and run with it this summer and fall.

I’m now released and working on Grimaulkin Tempted, book two of Grimaulkin’s series. I’ll write it out the way it’ll come out, and then I’ll edit for a YA audience.

Not sure what’s happening with War Mage. I think it’ll be at an editor’s at some point. Depending on how those edits come out, I might just scrap the whole series. Grimaulkin is my real baby. So’s Casey Donovan, who I think will put in an appearance during Brothers as Virgo.

What a relief!

Scorpio

So I was struggling with Scorpio. No offense, but I’ve never had good luck with Scorpios, either as friends or in a relationship. The story I first wrote was the “origin” story. It wasn’t that great, and it was way too short.

I talked with a friend who suggested I take the story and put it as a prologue, and rewrite Scorpio. Scorpios are very much into taboo subjects: incest, kinks, etc. I could have fun with him. They’re also stalkers, possessive, and easily jealous. So I’m rewriting it as a contemporary story (well, Summer 1972), just after protests for LBGT rights started.

I think it’s coming out a lot better, but it’s still kind of short. I have 8K words in it (after three days of near constant writing) and have to come up with 12K more, or at least 7K to reach the same as the other novellas. We’ve also been discussing covers. It’s going to have four covers–one for each of the signs, and one for Water, which will combine all of the signs into one omnibus. The three covers I’ve seen are pretty awesome, and I’m really happy with our cover designer.

Grimaulkin is at the editor as we speak. It’s on track to get rewritten for March as necessary. Scorpio, however, I don’t think I’ll get done by March 1. I already told the publisher and he said we’ll work with it.

Also, I’ve been having trouble with Scrivener. I have the story on my iCloud drive, which I can access on two computers: my Mac that’s located in the cellar, and my Windows computer that is located upstairs in my office. However, when I change anything on the Windows computer, it doesn’t register when I open it on the Mac. Cancer, I had rewritten a bit, but none of the changes showed up on the Mac version. It looks like I have to do all my work on the Mac, save it on the iCloud and do the compile on the iCloud drive, then hopefully open the .doc on my Windows computer. I’m wondering if Scrivener is more complicated than it’s worth, especially when I have to convert it to a .doc in order to send it to the editor. And then when the editor sends it back, I have to try and find the parts she’s talking about in Scrivener to correct. I love Scrivener as a writing tool. But as an editing tool, not so much.

Work vs. Play

35K words. That’s all Water has. I need more sex, more story in Scorpio. That’s what I’ll work on this week.

I just finished Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is the second book I read that believes that creativity is magic. (The first one, The Inspired Writer by Bryan Hutchinson I thought was better.) Big Magic sounds a lot like The Artist’s Way. Between the “woe is me because of the success of Eat Pray Love” are some nuggets of interesting thought. However, I don’t care much for her Trickster vs Martyr stereotypes of the typical artist. I believe that we are combinations of the two. I don’t want to be Bugs Bunny, but she makes it seem that it’s better for the artist to be that way. Mind you, I don’t like suffering for my art, either.

Water I have been suffering for. Grimaulkin is more fun. Grimaulkin’s voice has been with me for 10 years,  Water, for three months. I have to come up with three distinct voices at that.Water has a deadline. Grimaulkin, not so much. Water stresses me out. Grimaulkin 2 is the one I really want to write. I feel like I keep getting tugged away from the “work” of Water and pushed toward the “play” of Grimaulkin. I honestly thought Water would be fun. But maybe it’s the idea that I have a genre I have to fit myself into. I have rules I have to follow.

Maybe my muse is more of a trickster than I like to believe. I never believed in flogging the muse, because that scares her and makes her retreat into a corner, never to speak again.  But maybe I should work a little bit on Grimaulkin 2, because that’s where she wants to be, and leave Water for a couple of days to let her stew over it. I have a scene in mind, but that’s all it is, a scene, no story.

I have until the end of the month for Water, but my hope was to get it done while on my vacation/recovery from surgery. Tomorrow is another snow day, so I’ll be home working on…something.

 

1/2 done

Water’s stories are done, now all I need to do is drop the sex into them. So far it’s 30K, so I have to come up with another 30K to make it worthwhile. My research thus far has been pretty sad–most of the stories are the same, and the stories are more into the story than the sex. There’s only so many ways to describe the sexual act, though I don’t normally get beyond the vanilla. Other BDSM is just weird to me.

I got the cover for Water, and it’s very nicely done. I’m not putting it up here because a couple of things still need to be changed.

Haven’t been writing much otherwise, unfortunately. Been feeling depressed and angry about my eyesight, though it has gotten better over the past couple of weeks. I go on vacation next week, so my plan is to finish Water by the end of the two weeks. 30K in two weeks? Yeah, sure.

Is the Media Dead?

I usually get my information from Fox, NPR, and Sirius XM, in that order. All of them are biased. All of them are opinionated.

None of them present the information and let you figure it out. They feed you their bias, their opinion. Your opinions are formed by them and their pundits, and you can either regurgitate what they present, or think about what they’re saying and make your own decisions. I believe in being given the information and let me decide.

However, some media do not give all the facts, nor do they give you correct facts. They skew facts. For instance: How many people actually showed up at Trump’s inauguration? CNN says tens of thousands less than Obama’s first inauguration; Fox says more. Where is the truth? Somewhere in between. Why do we have to question the media? Isn’t it their job to question the powers that be and present to us the proper information so we can make true and informed decisions?

From now on, unfortunately, nothing the media states will be believed. Mainstream media hates Trump. The right doesn’t. Unfortunately, the days of Walter Cronkite are over. No longer are there trusted anchors/newspapers that will be unbiased and report things as they are.

It’s too bad.

Struggling vs worthlessness

Amazing how depressed you can feel if you can’t see.

I’m still stuck at home. You would think that I would write more. Nope. It seems the more time I have to write, the less I do write.

Water is up to 30K words, “Pisces” is 10K words. My goal is to have each sign be 20K words, but trying to get the erotica out is like pulling teeth. I’m not in the most pleasant of moods (even doing ERP online), I can’t seem to get into it. But I have a deadline of March 1.

I had a cover reveal on FB and twitter for Grimaulkin:

This is the first book in the series. Possibly three books in total.

I am going to write a short story with Grim for a giveaway or additional story. It’s mostly written, I just have to edit it a little.

Good news/Bad news

Still with double vision. This doesn’t look promising.

According to the doctor I have “Sixth Nerve Palsy,” where the nerve in my eye is weakened and the other muscles pull the eye to the left. The good news is that it’s temporary, and it affects only distance sight. The bad news is it could take a year for it to resolve. However, I can still read and write, which does not give me the excuse of not writing Water. I’m truly struggling with that book. I’m struggling writing anything because, I think, I’m depressed.

I can’t even play the game I usually play. My muse is in hiding. At least I can read and write, so I think I’d better read more. I have 83 books to read according to Goodreads, so I might as well get crackin’.

 

When Life Rears its Ugly Head

Sometimes, Life gets in the way.

Specifically medical issues.

I’ve had problems with my eyes for the past year. I have a cataract in one eye, which I’m going for surgery over in February. However, this week, I had something worse happen.

Double vision at a distance.

When driving, it looks like people are coming directly at me. If I look across the room, I see two of certain items. Before, they were side by side, with a short distance between then. I could drive, but it was scary. It got steadily worse and now the distance is apparent, and I can see two distinct and clear items, next to each other, but at a greater distance.  If I close one eye at a time, I can see okay.

I went to the hospital, thinking I was having a stroke or bleed, but all the tests came out fine. They think it’s neurological, a diabetic neuropathy in the eye. I’m afraid it’s permanent. They can’t guarantee that it’s temporary or not.

What does this have to do with writing? Well, I can at least see close up still. I can write and read what I’m writing. So that’s a positive.

What it has to do with writing is the feeling I have. I’m depressed. I don’t want to write. I don’t want to communicate. I want to stay within my own bubble and remain depressed. My friend said, “Well at least you’re not blind,” which is a small comfort. I can’t drive. I am at the mercy of the bus.

And I’m scared.