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| Falling in love with my old unfinished novel. Who am I fooling, leaving it over two decades? I am wedded to this book and there is no going back. My characters are adopting subtle echoes of their parents--following a familial arc. The entire thing is an organic allegory stretching out of dynastic power that like, actually make sense. The war is a perfect analogy to a more personal battle. And each generation of the POV's family is better than the one before it. Her daughter makes the same jokes--but it's genuinely warmer, and even though she's seven, it's better leadership. Who have I been fooling? It's time to stop refusing the call and make it work. I've loved it too long to let it die on the vine. |
| Level up yourself as a writer: I cannot believe the quality of thought I put in this old story I'm working on. The heartbreak of the old bachelor farmer who 'let' the evil sorcerers curse his lands, so now he is starting fights with the daughter of the crime boss (who runs both the police and the criminals) in hopes she'll punish him. I also cannot believe how much better I am at phrasing. SO MANY "I heard" "I smelled" "I saw" in my old draft. Both the fact of how good my old ideas were and the fact of how easy it is now to do better really help me know I am a real writer. The same can happen for you. |
| Always ask, "What obvious thing did I forget to include?" I wrote a story about a D&D rogue playing undercover police officer, stalking these evil sorcerers who never seemed to be DOING anything (but they WERE causing the destruction, just delayed reaction.) And you have a guildmaster theif watching evil sorcerers be monks and you tell me she doesn't scout around the monastery they took over? I'm like what? More recently, I wrote about a duchess who decides that she and her husband are going to publicly marry the woman who gave her husband a love child (It's the same theif above) and I FORGOT to include the kids in the ceremony. And we're not talking about shy kids but a young girl who took the strong characteristics of both her parents (the chutzpah and the political acumen) and a boy who has so much sorcerer blood he can't stop tiny lightning or run slower than a horse. A seven year old that solved his father's political problem (how to get the peasants to believe they needed to evacuate) by burning down his own caslte with his silly 'tiny ligntning.' So these are epic kids that would never be marginalized. So again: what key world points have eluded my ink so I can include them? |
| Same action, opposite results A teaser is fundamentally the same as a spoiler in content but not in effect. Think about how that might work in your magic systems. For example I have two opposite 'magical herbs' the soulmint apple and the fireberry. Fireberry helps wizards fuel their spells by making them feel like they have excess energy and soulmint is used to suppress magic by creating the illusion of scarcity. But one might take soulmint to prepare; and if you keep someone dosed up on fireberry they might never gather enough energy to fuel a powerful spell. This reversal of effect is not entirely obvious (especially when initially working on prescription/diagnosis rather than theory) and that creates a lived in environment. For example if the captor feeds my team's wizard soulmint and he takes it without complaint. He has a knowing smirk and a laissez faire attitude and then blasts them with stuff he normally can't do. Then hastily explains that it doesn't drain him it causes him to hold it in, that's going to make retroactive sense and make him seem smart all at once. |
| Teaser: Twin Eradis, giant silver robots waiting for the command to fire, lorded over the picnic tables, shining the vicious red glare of their coffin sized cannons on the ragamuffin diners. The couple—Obsolete, both of them—ignored them, attending to their plates of slop. Anybody interested will receive 5000 gp (2000 bonus, 3000 in a review request) and the passkey. If I'm right this will be my first professional submission (hence the passkey). It has the heart of a romantasy set in a gritty scifi dystopia. |
| More mashup words that are needed De Ackweirdo From "de acuerdo" Spanish Phrase meaning "I'm in agreement." De Ackweirdo is when the lunatic paranoid guy starts to make so much sense you begin to wonder if you took the wrong meds. So it breaks down into "de" meaning "of" and ack, meaning an interjection of upset, and 'weirdo' being judgmental about the sanity of the people involved. Almost guaranteed nobody will parse out what you mean until you explain it, but it's great for writing down or just general thinking. |
| Words that came from typos Ooptions Options that aren't good. First referenced in a D&D article I had to share it. Give your characters tricky treacherous options. Elationship. I was talking about my seducer girlfriend who never let me see her real self. It was as good as a drug on the highs and probably as bad on the lows. Kind of meaningful these typos. |
| So I've done a round of edits with my Star Trek fanfic. It's a three partner but I think you'll find it's worth the time. Start with "Chapter 1: Bitter Pill"  |
| I was watching a TikTok about Batman. They love his no kill rule but hate the edgelord reason--that he'd go stark raving mad. I finally get it. It's not because he's deranged but because he is normal. He has massive intrusive thoughts telling him about all kinds of nightmare things. Which has two purposes: One, it is the way that he fights; these terrible things are his only superpower. Two, each such thought is itself a moral question. That's what normal people do when they become warriors. It is his conscience that FEARS he might go too far. That's why Bruce Wayne won't go batshit crazy because he is always judging whether he has gone too far. If he steps out of line it will probably be for a good reason and his next decision will also for a good reason. It's the people who never considered going Injustice League who are at risk.They are the people who "one step down the dark path, forever will it dominate their destiny" as Yoda said. I could also talik about the fact that prep time is itself neuroticism and conscientiousness. Vigilance, being hard work and constant alertness. So he looks for every enemy, and the most important enemy any warrior has to deal with is himself. And yes this is legitimate analysis; it is the reason our minds love stories. There is so much philosophy to be done inside them. So much wisdom to glean from even the most caricatured (cartoonish) stories. |
| "Wisdom in Caricatured (Cartoonish) Stories" Crosspost for those who would rather blog comment. So bonus tip:The stuff you put in the newsfeed might actually be blog entries. This one was. |
| I've finally found what Brannon needs. His conscience only makes him crueler as he takes ownership of the problems of entire worlds, and wages war on them. Taking ownership and waging war only lead to more controlling and manipulation., on his part--and on the part of his government. Rebellion and coup will not stop the people who are already following his lead! What he needs is a Polynesian view. To stop being an owner and start being a 'Kahu.' A sacred caretaker. To treat them with the kindness and respect of a treasured pet, not the harsh manipulative discipline of a cold warrior. No matter how kind and goodly the people might be, they are still caught in that pincer of ownership and control. How can he find his way out of it? Sadly all the people in Larrikesh are the same--although less sophisticated. |
| I've added a new entry to my book, "Thoughts of a Mad Man" : "White Room: Where to display your setting (reflection paper)" Just some thoughts as I prepare to deal with white room. Basically I was about to make this an email and I thought better. (Eh, Ghastly Grim And Ancient Raven   ?) It also went from a paper about why this was hSard to more of a what to do about it. So if you're writing scenes that are too much like a radio show, check out my thoughts on the subject. |
| Ghastly Grim And Ancient Raven Thanks so much. I'm glad you liked the post and I'm kind of excited--I discovered a relevant limiting belief. As Oliver (student wizard) would say, I found the right thread to unravel. |
| My character is currently in a calm state despite finding out that a) the person who makes life worth living just got blown away (she was hoping to go first) and b) she's not dying because the war is over. I need her to go to a hysterical state. She is going to scream in the face of an armed enemy soldier. I don't know how to do that. Don't get me wrong: I go there more than anybody I know. She's my self insert in this story. I *should* know exactly how to get there. I feel like an NBA star saying, "You gotta ghostwrite the part where he does the free throw. I don't know anything about it." And come to think of it, okay, that is exactly how it is. Because knowing how to do is not the same as describing how to.  Besides, if I knew how I get from point A to point B I would go to point C instead. JOURNALING TIME |
| Yes,exactly journaling time! Also, time to do the mind trick of "it's ok, nobody will ever read thia, so I can do it just how I want/how it first occurs to le, even if it feels silly/wrong/cheesy". Just do it, without judging it. |
| Ghastly Grim And Ancient Raven - It's going to take a LOAD of nonjudgmental. I'm guessing Heaven will have to take out a loan if they spot me. It's all self talk, asurring the reader that she's special and strong and completely in control. She's not like all these half-mad people who don't appreciate the gift they've been given. She's going to quietly retire and collect her thoughts before stepping up. |
| Rebooting an old story with a new POV. It's coming along really well---and I finally found out what Larrikeshi mean by their favorite swear word. Unfortunately I happen to be falling for the character I killed off before the beginning of the original story. In the original version I never met him. But they make a great couple. Made. I'd say "To the ovens with that" but, that---that is where it went. So Talesh is starting her corruption arc. If that's what it is; she's defiantly going worse (From applauding evil to trying to perpetrate it.) Right now it's set up. I can't wait to experience the climax of this story from the person who actually cares about it. That moment where she looks her enemy in the eyes and begs him to destroy her. It's a story of depression and grief and PTSD that I think I've earned the right to tell. ...but only as a person not as a writer. For that you earn the right to tell a story by telling it right. |
| Favorite line for today: "People often steal what cannot be forced upon them." "In the Face of Apocalypse" Our secret agent was talking down an unarmed woman who intended to provoke an enemy soldier. Just days after Brannon had started a ceasefire. Have you recently read, written, or revised a line that was worth thinking about? |
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But your observation, yes yes yes! It is so much fun, to know that you've got it.
And let that delusion that there isn't another hill beyond your reach persist till you get to the peak and get your second wind.