Predicament

Out of all the fancy certificates and stuff that the National Novel Writing Month offers after the fact to winners, there's only one thing that I find to be useful at all. A special code to CreateSpace allows 5 free paperback copies of the winner's finished novel. Needless to say, I'm planning on taking advantage of it. Not for the novel that I wrote this year, but rather The Third Face.

The problem is that I still don't think I've revised The Third Face enough to even show 5 people. There are some pretty big problems with it, mainly the near-absent setting descriptions and the overwhelming rush through a seemingly disjointed plot. Its main villain just suddenly appears in the last few chapters without fanfare, and the conflict that set off the story is not resolved, but rather conveniently escaped by the heroes.

This would all be okay if I was still willing to revise it. But as things stand, I don't even like The Third Face that much anymore. After 5 drafts of overthinking everything, I'm just kind of sick of it. I contacted someone for help, then realized I couldn't even bring myself to write a simple outline to share because I didn't want to go back through my work anymore.

The code I got is good until June 30th of next year, so it's not like I'm in a huge hurry to get this done, but I also know that I take a very long time to get done with most tasks, and tend to just forget about them if I've been neglecting them for too long. That's not a good formula in this case at all. Okay, it's never a good formula. I should probably do something about that problem, but what? How can I approach this? It's hard to get started on anything in the face of the holiday season, and I just kind of feel stuck.

Oh Right

National Novel Writing Month ended a week ago. Before, I was constantly making blog posts about my writing, but after my lull in productivity in the novel, a similar lack of work went into this blog.

Unlike the blog, however, which has gone without a single post since then, my novel did pick back up, and I managed to finish it just in time to win! I was very excited, just as I have been each year before, and it felt great to let out the customary giant sigh of relief. There are few things more joyous than the finishing of another brand-new novel, and it never gets old, either.

After the euphoria stage came the relaxation, this idea that since the novel was finished, I could just sit back and do nothing. With no school or work, only projects that I choose to do are there to occupy me. Thus, I played video games and then spent three straight days with my girlfriend before finally coming back to reality last night.

It wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized that, in addition to the things I had been catching up on (like steadily working out more pages for my Pokemon webcomic and uploading more gaming videos to my Youtube channel), I still had this blog to update. Naturally, I came right to it and began typing up an entry. Then I got distracted and it took another good hour to get it finished, and I still haven't gotten to any of the other things that I was about to do before I thought of this. Man, task management is hard.

Discouragement

Have you ever used the writing software at Pangurpad.com? It's a pretty cool system focused on making everything as simple as possible. It allows easy-access notes with categories for characters, places, and items, as well as branching timelines of events--but other than that, it's just a plain and simple screen to type on with the ability to save onto the site's cloud server. That means your entire work is kept online and you can access it from your account on any computer.

So then, explain to me this: how me clearing my browser data somehow totally deletes the file. It's a good thing I backed up my novel a couple of days before, because even the small amount I did lose, 4000 words, is pretty much the death sentence for my novel. After some creative copying and pasting I got back to where I was in terms of word count, and wrote a nice little speech about how angry I was. Five minutes later, when I came to continue what I was working on, it was gone once again.

I have no idea what the problem is, but I haven't got a single word on that page, and frankly, I don't have the time to look for more writing software. My rant even declared that I didn't want to go through with my plot anymore, and that's even more true now. I feel completely defeated right now. What am I supposed to do if I'm physically not being allowed to write? My plan was to just summarize the ending of the story and write a shorter one for the 9000 or so more words I have left. Now I haven't the faintest idea what to do. I'm certainly not going on right now, and my methods for finishing it just might not be 100% legitimate but at this point finishing at all (short of typing random nonsense) is a miracle.

The bottom line is, my text editor hates me.

Plot Transformation

As anyone who's read this blog over the last month can see, the novel I'm writing places an pretty heavy emphasis on the main character Matthew Lothyre and the mystery of his strange-looking hat. The first conflict besides Matt's poverty is early antagonist Pat's attempts to steal the hat.

An earlier discussion also mentioned that the semi-rich, occult-loving girl Natalia Derinde essentially took over the plot with her strange behaviors and her deep connection with the mysterious dark spirit Leth. But what I didn't realize was that it wasn't her that was making things interesting--it was Leth himself.

Suddenly, my book is about Leth and his sister Parla in their competition of influence over people of Earth. Whoever can get their followers to win in a series of arbitrary yet heated contests with virtually no rules will take complete control over some important matters in their otherworldly home. Matt and Natalia keep their importance as the main players on Leth's team as this battle, apparently taking place over many human generations, comes towards its climactic end.

Obviously this still leaves a lot for me to work on, since that's still not the most thrilling plot you can ask for. I mean, the stakes are completely vague, and... well, okay, basically a lot of things are just vague. But that's something for another draft.

I wasn't really considering taking this too far, but if I can reconstruct my plot from some of its scattered pieces after this is done, then I might just have a decent novel on my hands. Due to the large number of posts about it on this blog (and how many people have just started reading this because of a certain NaNoWriMo Facebook post!) I can't exactly back out of the project now. I've invested not only my own time in it, but also what I suspect to be a fair amount of interest from others.

It will be a ton of work to revise it into a presentable form, but it's not as if I don't have other things to do in the obligatory don't-even-look-at-it period. The blog you see before you will probably die down a bit after this month is over, but it won't go back to the barren state it was in for a long time beforehand.

NaNoWriMo 2011: Objects

STRANGE-LOOKING HAT

Matt is the proud owner of this strange-looking hat, which has a special function so secret that nobody, not even the narrator, is allowed to know what it is until the appointed time.

It looks a lot like a black pirate hat. On the left side is some sort of golden satellite dish, while on the right is a colored feather that is the be changed every day of the week. However, since only a few hours have passed so far in the story, only the color for Thursday is known: purple.

DARK TOME

Natalia carried this black book closely with her for quite some time early on in the story.

She is sure that its contents are not meant for human eyes to see, and even if she wanted to look at it, there is in fact a lock on it which she doesn't have the key to.

Still, due to its apparent connection to Leth--perhaps on orders from him--she was very concerned with keeping it on her person at all times, right up until she failed to do so, which she lamented as a terrible mistake.

NaNoWriMo 2011: Places

SMELTON

Where Matt was going before running into Pat. Also where Natalia lives. It's a pretty big city, which is known to contain many stores packed next to busy streets, a towering library, and a very large supermarket called *sigh* All-Mart.

DARGUS

Matthew's hometown, right across the bridge from Smelton. He didn't have much luck there, and he's not planning on going back there. It might be important later, and it might never be mentioned again. Who knows?

NATALIA'S HOUSE

A big, lavish house, this is where Natalia spends most of her time. Its three floors haven't been fully explored yet.

The first floor contains her living room, which features a large TV, a couch, and a coffee table; her kitchen, which is furnished with new appliances and a minibar; and several other rooms, currently unexplored.

Upstairs is her bedroom, as well as her walk-in closet and a room set aside specifically for her to worry about her appearance. There's probably more up here too.

The basement is separated into storage and her ritual room, where she speaks with dark spirits on a daily basis.

MATT'S DREAMHOUSE

This place probably doesn't really exist, as it seems to be only an object of Matt's fantasies. It consists only of a bedroom and a bathroom, and is also furnished with a microwave in case he'd like to make ramen. It's heated for comfort, but doesn't have any other features at all.

He would also like it to be located somewhere that is near both a library and a laundromat, so he doesn't have to buy his own entertainment or appliances beyond the microwave

He figures if he makes only a small wish, life will give it to him.

NaNoWriMo 2011: Characters, Part 2

LETH

This spirit is so mysterious, it hasn't been indicated if he even truly exists. However, he does seem to exert a lot of control over Natalia's mind, and according to her he is a very intelligent master among the dark forces.

His plans can be complex or deceptive, or as simple as ordering her to beat up the next person she sees. His ultimate goal, naturally, is unclear for now.

STEPHEN MCENVAR

This young man was nice enough to supply Matt with food and clothing when they met at Stephen's campsite.

He seems friendly enough, but claims to have a shadier side. For one thing, he smokes underage, and apparently has a rocky relationship with his parents, which is why he camps out rather than staying at home.

It's almost as if he doesn't like getting compliments at all.

DANIELLE FANG

Chief of Police in Smelton. There's not much about her, but she seems to be very serious and efficient when it comes to her job. However, because she's done so well in the past, she has the idea that Smelton is now a safe place. This complacency may just be her undoing...

NaNoWrimo 2011: Characters, Part 1

MATT LOTHYRE

This down-on-his-luck man has nothing but his strange-looking hat and a neverending supply of trouble. He has no ties to the world and nowhere to go.

He's 24, but stress has made him look older already. He is scrawny from starvation, with short brown hair, a long nose, and thick, pouty lips.

He dreams of living in a small house near the library, but he has trouble finding a job due to his complete lack of any known skills. He could probably get something if he was willing to give up his hat, but it appears to be far too important for him to part with.

NATALIA DERINDE

This gothic-dressing woman lives in luxury near the lab where she works as a data analyst. In her spare time she relaxes extravagantly and performs dark rituals in the occult shrine in her basement.

She has pale skin and grey eyes, with long, very straight, silvery white hair. She always wears black, usually complete with a cloak that she carries. She is very concerned with appearance, and seems to be attracted to herself.

The most important thing to her is pleasing the spirit Leth, even though he often tricks her.

PAT

Not much is known about this strange person--not its gender and not much of a name. (Pat doesn't mind being referred to as an it.)

It owns a car and is quite fascinated with hats, as well as beer. These can sometimes get in the way of its job, apparently in some sort of office, working under its mean boss Bob.

It's trying to steal Matt's strange-looking hat.

More Fun With Natalia

It's been a couple more days and a couple thousand more words. Natalia is still completely taking over control of my novel while Matt lays in the hospital doing nothing.

She started off as a detestable foil to Matt, having everything while he has nothing. The house he wishes he could have is nothing compared to the one she lives in, yet she stays there by herself and never has any friends over. She's too lazy to even clean up after herself, and she's convinced that what she sees in the mirror is the most beautiful thing in the world.

But Natalia's main appeal is in her occult obsession, which has been connecting her with a spirit named Leth for a long time. At first he's just giving her instructions (and letting her forget them), but yesterday he did something new: he lent his power to Natalia to make her into a suddenly feral creature, escaping her kidnapping, and murdering everyone involved.

This settled a question that I've been asking myself for a long time: is Leth real, or is this story firmly rooted in a strict realism with a bit of silliness on the side (making Natalia simply crazy)? Obviously, since she was able to bend her limbs in ways she's not supposed to and bite through someone's spine, this has become very, very serious.

Oddly, there's now a chance that because of the killings she'll have to leave her home and run from the law, which puts her in about the position that Matt was in from the beginning. That could mean our two main characters, who after 16,000 words still haven't met, are about to start working together. But who can say for sure? We'll just have to see.

I want to start posting the notes I've been taking that are mostly just to test this year's writing implement, which is PangurPad. Still, I wrote those notes in such a way that they are to be read, and there's not any information in there that would really spoil my story... yet.

Hats and Their Owners

A week has come and gone since NaNoWriMo started this year, and I've mostly forgotten to keep this blog updated with my progress, but luckily here's some more about it beyond that little bit you got in the first post.

I was thinking about calling it "Hats and Their Owners," and that's the tentative title I'm using for now. However, it's actually only half about the man in the strange-looking hat now. Although the next character to be introduced was a creepy, nongender person trying to steal the hat, it was the one after that who managed to take over at least half of the story.

Natalia is pretty much the opposite of Matt, the main character. She works in a lab making tons of money and spends almost all of her time in her lavish home, either relaxing or... communing with occult forces. It's one of these mysterious spirits that drives her half to madness as her story begins to play out: she's been given a very important mission by one of them, but she can't remember what it is!

Other things that this novel has proven to include are a near-drowning experience, extreme vanity, a campfire, a rage-induced beating on a store worker, fantasies about the perfect tiny house, kidnapping at the hands of small children, and finally, a short car ride taking place entirely in rhyme.

Despite all these fun shenanigans, I'm starting to have a bit of trouble. I had no time to work on it on Sunday (yesterday), so now all my hard work getting ahead has been canceled out. Unfortunately, I'm starting to face the reality that every Sunday might as well be counted out of my writing schedule. That takes away 4 days total, increasing the amount of writing I have to do each day as I go on. But today, for whatever reason, I can hardly seem to get out even the normal goal. I'll keep trying, but I still have a ways to go.

Of course, this is about where it usually gets kind of difficult each year. There's nothing new about that. I have to remember this, but I also can't use it as an excuse not to do my best right now thinking I'll make up for it when the end is near. Being behind doesn't feel good, and I have more people watching for my success than ever.

One Hour of NaNoWriMo...

Tonight I stayed up past midnight so I could get an hour of writing in before I head to the kickoff event tomorrow morning. It turns out that I was able to get exactly one day's work done in that time. I'd like to celebrate the beginning of this event by sharing part of that with you.

The man was not so concerned with his appearance as that of his rather strange-looking hat. You see, his hat had a special function. It was a secret function, so secret that even I, the narrator of this novel, have not been offered the privilege of knowing anything about it. But it would seem that this secret function was very important.

As I have said, the hat looked very strange. It had what appeared to be a golden satellite dish sticking out of one side, and a purple feather on the other. He changed this feather every day, but this purple one happened to be his Thursday feather, and today was indeed Thursday. Not that that mattered, as he had no job or anything that depended in any form upon the days of the week.

In fact, he only owned the raggy clothes on his back and this very hat, which in structure seemed similar to some sort of pirate hat and was black like one. However, it did not have a design on it, much less a skull and crossbones. So it would appear that its very secret and special function was not to serve as any sort of sign that he happened to be anything such as a pirate.

He did love the sea, however, but it was not for sailing or treasure or anything on a ship. He did not want to be involved in any naval battles or anything fancy like that. It was just that he liked going to the beach. In fact, he liked the beach much less for the water than for the sand. Sand was his favorite substance, and he enjoyed it much more than anything. He sometimes wished that he had a house with sand for the floor, although he then admitted to himself that that would be far too dirty a dwelling.

Still, he wished he had any house at all. As I have already said, he definitely did not have one because he did not have anything at all besides his strange-looking hat with the very special and secret function that neither you or I are likely to find out about any time soon.

If it had been that useful, however, he would have had some way of making money, I would think. And he really didn’t: he had no education and no family to speak of. Well, he did have a high school education, but this was today’s world, in which that hardly counts for anything when looking for a job. He had tried donating blood plasma for a small stream of income, but that was barely enough to feed himself with, and he wasn’t able to do that anymore now because his impoverished state of being was having awful effects on his health.

He was only 24, but he had the face of one who was 42 instead, due merely to his aforementioned health problems. His short brown hair was disheveled, at least as much as could be seen under the strange-looking hat with the special function. Which, by the way, he never ever took off, no matter what. Even when he slept he left his hat on.

Anyway, back to the point of the preceding paragraph, his wide brown eyes looked around the underside of the bridge he happened to be standing under. I don’t know why he was standing under a bridge, but we will get back to that later, once I’ve finished describing his appearance.

He had a long nose and thick, pouty lips that hadn’t smiled in weeks. His half-starved body was encased in a plain brown t-shirt, the only one he hadn’t been forced to sell for his survival. His jeans were ragged and covered in patches made from half of an old, ripped-up sweatshirt he’d been using. The other half was currently being used as a scarf, and was a faded black. There had been a little bit left over as well, so he had lined the inside of his worn sandals with it.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo... or not

It's been months since my last post on this blog. It's alarmingly late in October, and that means it's almost time for National Novel Writing Month, the biggest and most chaotic, fast-paced event in writing.

I haven't written one paragraph of a novel or short story since that last post.

Suffice to say, this will be interesting. I usually come in with a pretty good idea of what I'm going to write about when November begins. But this year, despite everything, I have decided to go in with no plans at all, writing aimlessly until something comes together. As a result, expect me to start talking about how silly it is.

That is to say, I'm expecting it to result in many more blog posts over the course of the month. That's really not something I've ever tried to do before either, but I'm hoping with no plot ready I won't mind doing crazy things with my novel rather than spending 5000 words on "metanovel" where I literally write about how frustrating it is to keep writing.

So come back and check this blog throughout November. I'm resolving not to disappoint you.

Update

After that last long, formal post with all those fancy techniques, it's a little embarrassing to do this one.

You see, after all this time, I think it's safe to conclude that that stuff doesn't work at all. What was I thinking, anyway? I was sitting there trying to make myself do things, so my solution was to try to make myself do more things in hopes that that would somehow help.

Maybe there's some psychologist or something out there that can mess with my mind until it likes work! In all seriousness, though, this is where I admit defeat and look for some kind of alternative. As excited as I am about writing, and as much as I want The Third Face to see the light of day, maybe it's time to just... give it a rest for a while.

Let's see what happens if I pursue other things in life for a while. Just... don't let me forget how important this has been to me.

Motivation

If it was difficult to make myself do anything before, it's even more so now that summer is in and there's nothing to force me to do any work at all for a whole day. It gives me this feeling that I am entitled to laziness just because I am on vacation. We all know how silly that is, especially when you have as many things you should be working on as I do. Thus, I've been thinking about ways to combat this feeling and keep the motivation to work going.


1. Set An Alarm.
The goal is to make myself believe that this is a normal day, with a purpose and things to be done. Some illusion of structure is necessary for that, and it's always best to start at the beginning. That doesn't mean having to get up early, necessarily. I can still sleep in as long as I get up at a certain time. I think I'll probably set it to 10:00, since that's around the time I usually stop being in bed to sleep and start being in bed to just not get up yet. Consequently, I will probably also give myself a curfew of about 3AM, not that I am planning to cross that line too often anyway.

2. Prepare for the Day.
Again, it's time to use these simple things that my mind automatically associates with a school day (and thus a day of working). That means taking a shower and other hygienic necessities, dressing in clothes I'd be willing to leave the house with, and eating breakfast immediately. This also makes sense from a health standpoint, and allows me to clear up any confusion later in the day when I totally forget what I did this morning.

3. Do Some "Work"
My mind doesn't believe it can start writing or working on anything else while still half-asleep. Therefore, the morning is a good time for less involved tasks, such as cleaning the gigantic trash heap out of this room, or checking my To-Do List to help plan what needs to be done that day. This prevents me from thinking that because I am relaxing first, I will relax all day. Still, once I've done that, it is fine to check on the Internet and talk with my friends for a while.


4. Use Half-Hour Blocks
A particularly effective way to keep up productivity, which I used heavily before and during last year's NaNoWriMo, is to work for 25 minutes and rest for 5, with longer breaks every couple of hours. It's easy enough to do with some software help. It allows you to be sure you're doing just the right amount of work without burning out. Since I don't work all day, splitting the day up into 30-minute chunks like this also allows me to be sure I'm not wasting too much time on any one useless activity.


Other Things
At night, put in little progress notes next to each task on the To-Do List.
Tell friends and family about this structure so obligations to them can be worked into it.
Set goals with a deadline that includes an exact date and time.
"Accidentally" unplug the phone lines to avoid interruptions. If only...
For reasons unrelated, I need to go for a run or something each day.


So, readers, do you have your own tricks to keep yourself going?

Continuation

With two publication credits under my belt and my novel recognized by my community, I'm suddenly stepping into the world of the author--the public one, that is.

On June 4th, two days after my high school graduation, I have a poetry reading to attend--and read at! And exciting as that is, it's only a beginning to my summer. There's yet another revision lined up for The Third Face--one that I can confidently send to agents and publishers this time. After all, with multiple reviews done to hammer out the problems in my manuscript, along with my visible accomplishments, it's obvious that I've made a lot of very useful progress since starting this blog back in January.

Meanwhile, education is still a part of life. The good news is that, as I recently learned, an art institute isn't just for, well, art. I can go into one to work on all of my creative ambitions, and maybe even pick up my abandoned guitar again.

Before that, though, I have a long and busy summer ahead. A webcomic, a bit of game design, and a flash animation are just a few of the lofty promises I've made, and I don't intend to back down. Not only that, but I can actually continue my Information Technology training online with one of the many valuable gifts that came with the class.

Life is still full of decisions and possibilities right now, but as long as I still have the ability to eventually make the right one, things are going well.

Another Step

This blog entry (like many of them) is long overdue, and I'm expecting to have so much to say that I have to continue my thoughts on a second entry later this week. So, here we go!

Things are sort of hectic for me these days. As a senior in high school, the clock is ticking for graduation. I have to have lots of things done and ready, especially big class assignments and the stuff to show off at my open house just a week from now. Once that's done, I have exams and graduation plans to worry about.

"What are you going to do after you graduate?" Admit it, you want to ask me that. Everyone does, because everyone gets asked that at least a hundred times. And, to be quite honest, I have absolutely no answer to that.

Messing around in Minecraft and World of Warcraft while occasionally drawing a Pokemon comic offers both fun and social appeal, but none of it really leads anywhere. Half the world dreams of working for some video game company, designing new game ideas or--in perhaps the most coveted job in existence--testing and reviewing.

"Writing doesn't pay the bills." "Nobody ever makes it trying to be a rock star." I have all kinds of ideas for where to go with my life, but every single one is steeped in a legendary impossibility like these ones. Taking those challenges doesn't seem to be a very popular option with the people who need something from me or want me to do well, and how can I disappoint them?

Next time I'll explain how I'm going to deal with all of this, once and for all.

Opinion Time

Alright, I know I don't have a whole lot of people reading this blog, but for those of you who do, I have a question. Would you be interested in a book that features two or three very short novellas? They'd be mostly unrelated but share a common tone. I have two in mind, but if you don't think that's substantial enough, I'll probably have a third idea by the time I finish working on the other two.

The first is actually a full-length novel that I wrote, but I think about 80% of it is unnecessary, so it'll be cut down for sure. It's about a high school boy named Morty who suddenly wakes up from a coma to find that his whole life is a dream, and that he's actually an 11-year-old exiled prince in "real life." Somehow he has to resolve the two worlds, get his body back in shape, and retake his kingdom from the fiend who's been bottling souls...

The second novella focuses on a child named Daniel, and the young man, Zach, who must accompany him as he sets off on a trip to a lonely church. There, Zach will discover what's in the blocked-off area behind the church, the secret of Daniel's apparent depression, and why the little boy's books must never leave his sight...

Both novellas are about young men whose ordinary lives, on the brink of truly beginning, are twisted by the realm of fantasy in an unusual way. They deal with the relationship between adults and children, and the value place on each event and decision in a person's life. Also, a bit of trivia: the second novella is actually based on a dream I had, so there's a connection there, too.

So what do you think? Should I do it? Maybe you think I should try to develop each idea into a full-length (with the crap cut)? Or perhaps this is a waste of time and I should be focusing on the big stuff like The Third Face and the series revolving around it.

Review: Elemental Sacrifices - The Gathering

Have you ever wanted to read a book about a mute kid with poison for spit? How about an army of monsters made out of sand? Or maybe a vegetarian girl with a hair obsession and a lifetime of combat training?

Well, you probably haven't really given it much thought. But if, upon considering it just now, you said yes, you'd probably like to know more--and even if you said no, well, maybe I can convince you anyway.

Elemental Sacrifices: The Gathering follows an ancient-magical-orb-turned-girl named Chloe. Along with her snotty sister, she sets off to escape monsters and angry villagers alike, to see a boy so thoroughly attractive that even I (a straight male) find him sexy, and, of course, to find the secrets of her own origins.

The journey is punctuated with vivid, stunning battles with various fiends, as well as with genuine, hilarious dialogue among the amazingly strong cast of characters that this deep world has to offer. Reading it is not just interesting or suspenseful, but truly fun.

Excited yet? I definitely am! I'm not sure where the author is in the production of it, but I'm sure she can do a lot more with a little support for her work--it goes a long way, to say the least.

Super Script

As a 3-time winner of NaNoWriMo (the act of writing a 50,000-word novel in just one month) I tend to enjoy a challenge, especially when it comes to writing. So it's no surprise that I am in the midst of Script Frenzy, an event in which you have one month to write 100 pages of, you guessed it, a script.

So which one is more difficult? Last year, the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo came out to 99 pages, so there's not too much difference there. You would think that if you wrote a lot of short lines in your script--maybe having a bunch of characters that interrupt each other--you could get away with making Script Frenzy a lot easier.

But the truth is, Script Frenzy is by far the more difficult task. Unless you already have experience with writing scripts (which I only have a tiny bit of), it can be disorienting and strange. I even split the requirement into two scripts with, naturally, a goal of at least 50 pages each. That should allow me all kinds of creative options, right? Yet I'm still over a day behind already!

The first script is a 10-part comic series based on a certain popular game. I know, doing things like this probably isn't the best move for a writer, but give me a break. Besides, I'll probably actually draw it this summer, and that'll just be fun for all!

The other one is an original anime series in 6 parts. When Eric is accused of killing his new, mysterious girlfriend Alyssa, the only place to run is an elevator to Hell. I've had the two characters of Eric and Alyssa in my head for quite a few years, and they've finally found a home in this story, currently titled "The Next Floor Down."

That won't stop me from bringing you guys some more information this April, like a promise I've had here for a long time but never delivered on. Stay tuned for a sneak preview of a new, unreleased novel I had the luck to read!

An Extra Credit

One thing that looks great when you're trying to get a book published is that something you've written has been published before. Well, consider me competitive edged!

Something we're always encouraged to do in my Expressive Writing class is to enter contests. I wasn't even conscious that I'd entered this particular piece into this particular contest, but somehow an "essay" of mine was qualified to publish. (I say "essay" with quotes because that's what they call it, but I really don't like that word. It's my life story, not a court case!)

So there it is. It's only a few hundred words, but they're all mine, and they're in a real book. Next time I write a letter to an agent or a publisher, I can say, "I have publication credit with Creative Communications." It sounds fancy because it is.

Actually, I had this opportunity in a similar class several years ago, but for some very stupid reason I declined to act. My next plan of action is to look back and attempt to capture the charm of the old "essay". After all, it was about the development of my writing. What subject could be more important concerning me?

Overdrive

Well, I was supposed to return to writing related stuff probably a week or two ago, but now I'm actually going to do so. Seriously!

I have tomorrow off, and with the rest of my family off on vacation all weekend, I have freedom AND caffeine money. So even if writing takes a back seat to other stuff, I have many hours of productivity ahead!

That means it's time to consider asking about more Beta Reading work. After all, I'm almost done with the current one (a great manuscript that I'll probably review here soon) and, well, I could use something new to help keep me occupied throughout this long weekend here.

Okay, I'm sure you'd like to hear about my own writing. I've basically been waiting to find out about what Tiger Tales will do with The Third Face. I don't even know how long it'll be before information comes back, so until then, revising that again is basically out of the question. Nor am I prepared to look at the sequel that's clearly bound to follow that. Instead, I'm looking backwards, to the lives of Ian and his friends, who are legendary by the time of The Third Face.

Seth, Ian's best friend, has discovered the method to travel to another world. Ian and his crush Lynn are invited to join him on his trip to the primitive society, but Seth refuses to reveal how he knows about it. Ian will have to trust his friend despite his destructiveness, and reveal his horrible secret at the same time. Stay tuned for more about Redhand: Adventures With My Dead Best Friend!

Finish!

And there was much rejoicing.

Yes, I've finally finished redrafting The Third Face. It's kind of hard to believe. I just sort of... wrote the last sentence and said to myself, "That's it, you're done."

After this blog entry, I'll probably be on break from anything even vaguely writing related for several days. That doesn't sound like a long time, but I still have people on my back for help with their manuscripts. Someone must be giving me a reputation, because there's a lot of them now. It's a good thing none of them mind waiting, though... Those are the kinds of people I like to work with.

I have a few books to read for other purposes. It's hard to believe I have the time to sit and read just for myself, but I do. Still, they coincide with a surprisingly long list of other things to get done. After this, though, all those things seem incredibly doable (especially since few have any kind of timeframe attached to them).

Rest--true rest--is a wonderful thing.

Going for the Juggler

I hadn't really mentioned this before, but there's a reason I've been revising so furiously. On February 25th, the Tiger Tales literary contest is closing. Everyone is waiting on one key factor: will they start accepting novels this year?

They haven't had any reason to yet, but with two or three other novels already being submitted, chances have never been so good. I've been complaining year after year that short stories just aren't my thing, but this time that might not keep me out of the running.

As you've probably guessed, I'm entering the contest with my novel, The Third Face, and have decided to bring it through one more revision before I get there. It's hard to estimate how much editing there really is to do; it was originally about 80 pages long, and it's grown to over 100 before I've made it halfway through. I can't tell you the exact statistics, though, as they keep changing.

The fact is that even though I take whatever chance I can get to covertly revise during school hours, I've still spent a good four hours of my evening each day since the 25th of January, and I'm still worried about whether I'll finish on time. There's definitely a lot to do.

Alongside that, I am still doing the same beta reading that I mentioned a couple entries back. I'll admit that it's not a huge amount of work in its own right, but my tendency not to give it priority has made it really slow. I'm surprised the author isn't getting really impatient with me--she has every right to be. Still, she's politely followed up about it, making me suddenly aware of my mistake.

I suppose it would help if I was able to say no when a close friend plopped a half-finished manuscript down in front of me. This isn't a really big deal, since I told him he isn't getting any feedback until he finishes it. But it does make yet another manuscript I have some hand in revising at this very moment.

Look how long this blog entry is running. And I haven't even gone outside my writing life here. For your sake, I won't go into everything else, but I will tell you that there's a ton more for me to worry about these days. It's a wonder I haven't died. I can't believe I was able to put aside some time today to write this blog entry. There are actually plenty more blog entries way overdue for me to write... when I have time.

The Third Face Excerpt - Panic Attack

Rasuke's blood hurt.

The pain spread in thin, piercing lines through his body. He fought to control his breathing as it threatened to outrace even his own gunshot heartbeat.

He’s a Demon.

Imagined claws pulled at his own face as if pulling it off would save him from the agony, the fear, the rage. The three confused into a boiling mass and escaped his body as a vision, hideous and fearsome, tearing at Leo's form.

The Demon didn't react, knowing nothing of the imagined foe attacking him. But he looked upon Rasuke with concern. “You okay?”

It stopped.

He felt perfectly normal all at once, but for the difficulty in his breath. When it, too, had faded, he finally blurted out, “I feel like shit.”

Leo nodded. “At least they taught you fun stuff. What's wrong?”

Rasuke shrugged and shook his head. “I just... panicked. Just now. For no reason.”

“Oh, Phoenix,” Leo sighed. “You really think it was for no reason? None at all?”

“I think it had something to do with... you being a Demon,” Rasuke admitted. “I don't even know what they are.”

“It's okay to hate us,” the larger boy said. “I'm not at all proud of what I am. We're despicable—detested for good reason. My race is responsible for so much pain. Including part of yours.”

Rasuke looked up into Leo's blue eyes just then, suddenly interested and alert. “What do you mean?”

“The story begins in Hell, as most Demon stories do. That's where we're born, or made, as the case may be. Everyone there is subjected to so many awful conditions... and most importantly, the rage of the other Demons. I used to spend my days there, rescuing those who seemed unaffected. And that's how I first met you.”

The Depths of Revision

I don't think I've ever felt as much like a writer author as I have the last few days.

I'm not talking to publishers or "getting into the business" or any of that stuff. I'm not even doing anything that I haven't done before, actually.

All I'm doing is what teachers make you do all the time: revision. So what makes it different? Just the sheer amount of it. It's one thing to do NaNoWriMo (which is a really commendable feat in its own right), but something about taking the result of 2009's into its fourth draft... Maybe it's just a mood swing on my part, but I feel like doing this is really pushing my passion for writing back to the forefront of my life.

Half of it is that I'm doing this after having taken the time to really edit other people's work, and find out what I need to see in a story, what I like and where my standard is. As it turns out, my need to give the authors of my beta reading some really good critiquing has caused me to set the bar amazingly high. It's actually extremely easy to do this revision, if time-consuming, since it's plain that the last draft doesn't live up to my expectations. The fact that I offered it to an agent is laughable.

I haven't stopped beta reading, though. In fact, with this second manuscript, I've had the luck to find one with a lot of parallels to my own work. Might even make an entry about that sometime soon...

Excerpt from The Third Face

Blood covered the gaping face, grey with death. The right arm ended in a shriveled stump, and a huge gash stretched across his torso. Internal organs had been torn out, and the Salamander looked like an empty sack.

But his ruined face was still that of Rasuke’s foster father, his only friend.

The boy’s body shook, his body that still had everything inside it, still carried life. He closed his eyes and looked back to the last time this man had been alive, kindly bringing him to that doctor’s office. And then the doctor did something, and it all went wrong...

Doctor Grin-that was the name of the man responsible for this. Rasuke saw himself in the past as if he’d resisted, struggled, grabbed the surgeon, destroyed him with his bare hands in front of his father, and then a shadowy figure came in the tent and leapt at him, and Windeater jumped in the way, and his arm was ripped off and then Rasuke ran in horror-

The boy opened his eyes, panting. “Where did that come from?” he asked himself.

Then he blacked out.

Secondary Project

Well, let's look at the status of things. I'm currently in the middle of negotiating a beta read for another work. This time I was assured that it's epic fantasy, so phew, right direction. Meanwhile, there's also someone beta reading The Third Face. She says that it'll probably be done by the end of January and--oh, wow, that's coming up really soon, isn't it?

As soon as I get my comments back I'm going to start revising like hell. I'm not sure how much time I have for this in February, but my school's writing contest may or may not be accepting novels as of this year. As in, we'll see. Still, for something that's essentially a matter of chance (and probably a slim one at that) I'm pretty excited about this.

I have a couple weeks to go till then, though. What to do with them? I don't want to stop writing, but I don't want to revise The Third Face or start on a new project just yet. The solution? Something completely different! This is probably kind of pointless and stupid but... my autobiography. It is going to exist. At least partially. I don't think I should try to get too far when I'm only 18 and all. But still, yeah. That's the writing I'll be doing for now. Not like I need another project at the moment, but eh. I can handle it.

"Beta Reading"

So I'm a writer. Naturally, that means my friends are writers too, right?

Well, okay, it's not that simple, by any means. But I do talk to lots of writers on a daily basis. Besides the fact that being social is just fun, it helps me sort of team up for better writing. The more people that look at something, the better.

Of course, as stated in the first post of this blog, things can't always be about me. So about a week ago, I, too, volunteered my services to look at someone else's work, to critique and review it. I put myself out there on the Absolute Write forums (amazing place by the way) as what they call a "Beta Reader."

Within a matter of hours, someone had sent me a message in response. She knew that her story was definitely not something I'd normally read. But she sent it to me anyway because she was confident in the results. How can I say no to that kind of guts? Even though I wasn't sure what to expect, I accepted anyway. Turns out it was at least half-romance. My worst subject. Only the tension and suspense that are in the story keep me reading more.

In fact, where I failed to make comments on the document for a stretch, I can't seem to make myself go back and find things to comment on. I just can't reread it. It wasn't till the end when I had all my comments done and I was giving a more general review that I had any confidence at all in my ability to help. My comments on that document are basically useless, but I sent them anyway. Still, I think my review was very helpful in contrast.

It was a long and hard process, but really, it only took me one week to receive, read, comment, review, and finally send everything back. It was 64,000 words long, almost three times the length of my own novel's first draft. That's crazy. I didn't really think it was possible to do that. On the other hand, it was such tiring work that I hope I don't get my next assignment for a few more days.

Here's an idea of how hard it was. Over the last week, if you haven't talked to me, you missed me moaning and groaning about this project and how I didn't want to do it. I didn't mind homework or any of that other stuff because it gave me an excuse not to work on it. I'm not quite the complainer I used to be, but really the fact that I didn't think of anything else as a problem during that time probably says a lot.

I'm probably being really longwinded and dramatic about this. I just want people to understand how hard it actually is to do this. If you are asking someone to give you feedback on your work (like I currently am, actually), then realize that it's no small favor. Same goes for agents and editors and anyone else who has to read it. This is not "Oh hey this book looks cool I'm going to read it and it will be great" time. Forgive me for using the phrase, but it's serious business.

Review: The Golden Compass

As I sit down blearily in front of my computer, it's hard to believe that just a week ago life wasn't that hard. Back then, the only thing I had to do was read some books. Well, I'm glad that one of the ones I picked up was The Golden Compass.

I don't know why I did. The concept didn't interest me, and I felt that I already knew enough about it by having watched those commercials for the movie when it came out a few years ago. I thought it was too childish for me. Who wouldn't come to that conclusion after seeing a little girl ride a polar bear?

I regret that first impression.

Okay, I probably still won't watch the movie. But that's because I suspect the movie itself of being at fault for my original bias. It's hard to trust movies anyway, especially having been hit pretty hard back at the infamous Eragon fiasco.

The book, though. Wow. For a popular classic from the 90's, it's surprisingly deep and dark. Turns out just because the main character is a little kid doesn't mean the reader has to be. In hindsight, I should have known that all too well.

What I liked about it was that it did not shrink from the subjects of torture, deception, and even religion. The latter, luckily enough, is enough in the background that a person who'd rather not deal with religious debate can pretty much ignore it.

Anyway, Pullman puts us deep into the mind of a girl living on the line between civilization and savagery. The primal force is what pushes this story along, but the cleverness of a sophisticated mind shines through. We get to see genius lying and the science of a sort of psychic reading that the main character, Lyra, is able to perform. It gives her a lot of answers, but only enough to build anticipation for what will happen next in this fast-paced action.

Okay, I promise a better review next time. At this point I really just wanted to put something on the page for people to see. Anyway, if you like your reading with a dash of mysticism, a bit of eerieness, and some tastefully executed violence, there's no reason not to pick up The Golden Compass. Unlike most literary classics, this one made it big for a reason: it's really good stuff.

The Third Face: Summary

Rasuke has just learned three things: he is not the only Human in the world; two warring demigods are petitioning great warriors; and he has a vicious alter ego who's already answered the call to arms.

He will have to fight alongside both demons and living experiments, not only to win the struggle, but to understand it. His origins will prove to be tied to those of the war in the ugliest of ways.

First Look

If you're looking at this blog post seriously, odds are it's because I haven't added many other posts yet. You're either one of the first people to look at this blog, or so interested in it that you actually looked towards the back.

Regardless, you've invested your time in me and my blog, and maybe even my book. There might not even be anyone or anything telling you that it's worth it--just your personal faith. That's something really valuable, and I just want to start off by thanking you for it.

So, what can you expect out of this blog?

First and foremost, I'd like to spend a lot of time reading and reviewing other people's books. So if you keep reading, you'll probably get to know my personal opinion on what I've read. You'll find a lot of dark fantasy and a bit of science fiction here.

What I review could be anything from a popular classic to an unpublished manuscript. You see, since I do some work in editing other people's novels, I often get a look at them before anyone else, even publishers. With the author's permission I'll review (and promote) their work on this blog.

Of course, I have to admit I'm not entirely selfless. You wouldn't expect me to do all that and then not talk about my own novel, would you? I'll probably talk a lot about how it's going and my quest for publishing and all that other good stuff. Later on, I'll post actual material for it like excerpts and summaries and stuff.

Hey, wait, why can't I post a summary right now?

Oh, and also the link back to my website: Link!