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First, a Book rec.
Mechanique: The Tale of the Circus Tresaulti is steampunk, isn't steampunk, is dystopian, is about a circus in which half the performers were recreated with metal bones inside them, and the best way to describe it is interesting. It's a story that I went into thinking it would be one thing, only to find out it was something else entirely and thoroughly enjoying it for that reason. It's dark, yet not the kind of dark that leaves you depressed and hating life (and then hating the author for making you feel that way). It's more... a twisted (in a good way) kind of whimsy that manages to be both harsh and fantastic. It's bitter characters who seem unpleasant but do care, and show it little by little as the story progresses until you end up caring as well. And it's brilliantly put together. Although most of the story is told from the first person POV of a kid named Little George, the POV as well as the timeline bounces around, the story, the situation and the characters being pieced together as the story progresses, and that's what caught my attention and held it. Because the moment the story started, I wanted to know where it was going, why the things that happened happened, and what it all had to do with anything. And the prose is just awesome - just the right amount of poetic without bogging the story down in pretty ramblings.
Second, Writing.
Current Story is so slow! At least it feels like it's slow, because it involves a new writing habit in which I write a few sentences or a paragraph, pause for an immensely long time as I serf the net while pondering not only what happens next but how the character needs to react, then after a few minutes of this I go back and write a few more sentences or a paragraph.
See, I have this bad habit of being a glutton for punishment because I like to give my characters rather complicated backstories, and this character's backstory is not only central to the plot but is so complicated that I'm rather dreading it when I finally reach the part in which the protagonist discovers just how complicated things really are. Because it's going to be a pain to write, I just know it. My protagonist is also being incredibly complicated to write. He has an abusive father that for reasons that can't be explained without giving important stuff away will not leave the protagonist alone. The protagonist is in his twenties, and still has to worry about his father finding him and hurting him, because his father always finds him no matter where he goes. And that's made for a rather difficult character to write, because there's so many little things I have to pay attention to, especially when it comes to how he interacts with others. I've also been making sure to write him, his situation, the other characters and their reaction to his situation, in a way that doesn't make this one big angst fest with much wallowing in self-pity and excessive woobiness. There's more to the story than what the character is going through (he's also not the only character with unhappy backstory baggage), but it's still central to the story, and finding that balance of keeping it central without it completely taking over has been like chipping stone. And while I know I can just go back and fix things, I like to get as much as I can at least going in the right direction. Stories are much easier to edit when the story is as coherent as I can make it.
Oh, and I have a question about POV. I plan on making this story into a series (don't let my tale of woe fool you. Being the first story, I'm still getting the hang of all the characters, and I'm hoping that once I get a hang of them they'll be easier to write with each story). There are several characters involved in the story but for this book only two of the characters get POV moments. I tried getting more than two POVs involved to establish multiple POV shifts, but the story just wouldn't have it. Thing is, I have a general idea of what book two will involve, and that includes POVs from characters who didn't have POVs in the first book. And what I want to know is if this would end up being jarring to readers? Or does establishing that the story will have more than one POV be enough?
Finally...
I love writing on a new laptop. Not just because the keyboard is nicer, but because I have a nice new Microsoft Word with a Spellchecker that knows more than ten words, a Grammarchecker, a dictionary and thesaurus, and all these handy little tools that I didn't have before but that make making changes so much easier. But most of all, because my stupid documents don't freeze up for all eternity forcing me to sit there and wait for the laptop to remember how to laptop.
Mechanique: The Tale of the Circus Tresaulti is steampunk, isn't steampunk, is dystopian, is about a circus in which half the performers were recreated with metal bones inside them, and the best way to describe it is interesting. It's a story that I went into thinking it would be one thing, only to find out it was something else entirely and thoroughly enjoying it for that reason. It's dark, yet not the kind of dark that leaves you depressed and hating life (and then hating the author for making you feel that way). It's more... a twisted (in a good way) kind of whimsy that manages to be both harsh and fantastic. It's bitter characters who seem unpleasant but do care, and show it little by little as the story progresses until you end up caring as well. And it's brilliantly put together. Although most of the story is told from the first person POV of a kid named Little George, the POV as well as the timeline bounces around, the story, the situation and the characters being pieced together as the story progresses, and that's what caught my attention and held it. Because the moment the story started, I wanted to know where it was going, why the things that happened happened, and what it all had to do with anything. And the prose is just awesome - just the right amount of poetic without bogging the story down in pretty ramblings.
Second, Writing.
Current Story is so slow! At least it feels like it's slow, because it involves a new writing habit in which I write a few sentences or a paragraph, pause for an immensely long time as I serf the net while pondering not only what happens next but how the character needs to react, then after a few minutes of this I go back and write a few more sentences or a paragraph.
See, I have this bad habit of being a glutton for punishment because I like to give my characters rather complicated backstories, and this character's backstory is not only central to the plot but is so complicated that I'm rather dreading it when I finally reach the part in which the protagonist discovers just how complicated things really are. Because it's going to be a pain to write, I just know it. My protagonist is also being incredibly complicated to write. He has an abusive father that for reasons that can't be explained without giving important stuff away will not leave the protagonist alone. The protagonist is in his twenties, and still has to worry about his father finding him and hurting him, because his father always finds him no matter where he goes. And that's made for a rather difficult character to write, because there's so many little things I have to pay attention to, especially when it comes to how he interacts with others. I've also been making sure to write him, his situation, the other characters and their reaction to his situation, in a way that doesn't make this one big angst fest with much wallowing in self-pity and excessive woobiness. There's more to the story than what the character is going through (he's also not the only character with unhappy backstory baggage), but it's still central to the story, and finding that balance of keeping it central without it completely taking over has been like chipping stone. And while I know I can just go back and fix things, I like to get as much as I can at least going in the right direction. Stories are much easier to edit when the story is as coherent as I can make it.
Oh, and I have a question about POV. I plan on making this story into a series (don't let my tale of woe fool you. Being the first story, I'm still getting the hang of all the characters, and I'm hoping that once I get a hang of them they'll be easier to write with each story). There are several characters involved in the story but for this book only two of the characters get POV moments. I tried getting more than two POVs involved to establish multiple POV shifts, but the story just wouldn't have it. Thing is, I have a general idea of what book two will involve, and that includes POVs from characters who didn't have POVs in the first book. And what I want to know is if this would end up being jarring to readers? Or does establishing that the story will have more than one POV be enough?
Finally...
I love writing on a new laptop. Not just because the keyboard is nicer, but because I have a nice new Microsoft Word with a Spellchecker that knows more than ten words, a Grammarchecker, a dictionary and thesaurus, and all these handy little tools that I didn't have before but that make making changes so much easier. But most of all, because my stupid documents don't freeze up for all eternity forcing me to sit there and wait for the laptop to remember how to laptop.
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 09:46 am (UTC)From:... But even so, you can mess around with that. I remember one book I read awhile back that started out with one first-person narrator, then halfway through switched to a different narrator who had not appeared at all in the first half of the book. The second narrator was reading the first one's unfinished memoir, which was what the first part of the book turned out to be, and then she had to do some detective work to find out how the first narrator's story had ended. It wasn't a technique that I think would work all the time, but it worked just fine for this book's overall style.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 07:04 pm (UTC)From:But, yeah, the book I mentioned above bounces around from first person to third to no one's particular POV at all, and it worked really well.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-02 01:48 am (UTC)From:It's more... a twisted (in a good way) kind of whimsy that manages to be both harsh and fantastic.
Kind of sounds like some of YOURS..........
(meant as a compliment)
I still remember the warning you issued when I announced I would be reading Jabberwocky.....
>;-)
I like to give my characters rather complicated backstories
(((((((((NODS))))))) no kidding....e.g. Maj in Hound of Hell...
no subject
Date: 2013-06-03 07:51 pm (UTC)From:Complicated backstories are love :D If a pain to write. Although I think Maj has nothing on my current character's backstory.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-03 10:35 pm (UTC)From:and crawling out into the passageway.....
A bit fanciful.....
There was quite a bit to Maj's back story..........that is what made it so fascinating for me given she had picked up Sheppard.
I LOVE that story.....and never mind Ris
BTW what did you think of the Jabberwocky in Alice In Wonderland, Depp version?
I loved how he recited the poem.....I recited it too as he did.....
>;-)
Your short stories and book
Date: 2013-06-02 02:14 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)I like gen and I have skipped through your discussion of gen. Basically I like the characters to stay in canon characters. Neal is the competent devious skilled man and not a wimp. I don't mind romance but Neal is hetero in the show and I want to read stories with that sexuality. I get really tired of the Neal is a devoted lover to Peter or with them both. Neal is never allowed his own life it is always subservient to Peter.
So I appreciate your stories. However I don't see anything recent. Do you no longer like the show or want to write in that universe?
I saw that you wrote a book and had it published. I may want to read it but not at 20.52. Why do you not allow it sold as a Kindle book for $6-9 dollars? I may take a chance at that cost but not at $ 20.52.
Re: Your short stories and book
Date: 2013-06-03 07:48 pm (UTC)From:Ah, that book. It was my first book that I wrote many, many moons ago back when I believe Nook and Kindle were still just ideas people were wary about. Pricing is based largely on page number, and the book is psychotically long (nearly five hundred pages... yeah), thus why it costs so much.
Yeah, definitely don't buy that book. One of these days I plan to clean it up and republish it, but right now I'm focusing on another book that when it is published (depending on who I publish with and whether Barnes and Noble is still being all huffy with Amazon and Kindle) I will make available for either (or both, if possible) Nook and/or Kindle and it will be a heck of a lot cheaper since it won't be so crazy long. I was... very wordy back in the day.