Writing

"Just write!" I can't remember that professor's name. Junkins, I think. Pronounced Jenkins. He would implore us to forget about punctuation and spelling and just "get your IDEAS down!"

He was the best writing teacher I ever had.

So I started writing again. Since my last post here was in 2008, that feels pathetic, but I'm glad to be taking control of my life and doing something I love.

Getting my ideas down.

It's a novel. It's not Science Fiction or Fantasy. I have no idea where it's actually going to take me, but so far it's fun.

Well, it's only 262 words. I shouldn't get THAT excited. Ask me again in about 290 more pages, or 4 years, whichever comes first, how it's going.

The title - because that's all I had to start with really - Helen of Troy, New York

Wish me luck!

Slight Deviation

So I'm writing, but not Dark Disciple. I'm revisiting a picture-book manuscript and will be sending that out to publishers who accept unsolicited material. I'm excited to do this as it's a short-term project that should get me re-engaged in Dark Disciple work.

And if it results in publishing something that wouldn't suck either.

The picture book is a retelling of an old Russian fairy tale about a thumbsized man who is essentially a djinni in a bottle. In my retelling he's freed from a sketchy imprisonment by a boy named Josef, and his skeptical little sister Ekaterine.

The more I think about the thumbsized man's imprisonment, the more I realize it's heavily inspired by the Looney Tunes with the singing frog in the time capsule.

Hmmm... might have to work on that. Or not.

Anyway it's a tight and captivating little story that I came up with about 6 years ago while rocking my son Joe to sleep. I'm very excited to shop it around and see what happens. I have two other Josef and Ekaterine stories. One has Ekaterine squaring off against the antagonist from Gogol's The Nose. Yes - it's the Nose himself! And in the other Josef and Ekaterine team up with a Taltos and his two brothers to rescue the Spring Fairy from Chudo Yudo the 9 headed dragon.

Good stuff...

I'll be back to Dark Disciple before Thanksgiving. Promise.

Back at it soon

It was a long Summer with very little writing, and the Fall has brought good news and bad news.

The good news is that I should be getting some time freed up to focus back on my writing, and this project in particular.

The bad news is that my wife's job is evaporating due to the economic downturns. It's not even a stretch to say that. Her job was in IT for a bank, supporting one of its lending lines that they're shutting down.

But we're rolling with that, and her newly freed up time will be spent doing any number of projects you just never have time to do when you have a job and two small children.

Anyway, my birthday present to myself will be restarting this project. I also hope that I get the president I want for my birthday since this anniversary of my entrance to this world is November 4.

More in a couple of weeks.

That darn Act 4!

So I roughed out Act 3 a few days ago and now I'm launching into Act 4. Essentially I've got 25 pages to finish out the movie. 25 pages equals 25 minutes. Problem is, in my head I've only got about 10 minutes of story left!

Ai-yi-YI!

So now I've got to wrack my brain for alternatives, and figure out how similar movies have done it. I've managed to inject a single twist, but it's not very inventive. I'll have to let this stew for a day or two. I'd like to get Act 4 nailed before next week.

This writing stuff is HARD!

Act Three!

I got Act 3 roughed out - and I do mean ROUGHED out. Man, I gots a lot of ground to cover in my Act 3! A lot! I've got:

• Bad Guys Close In
• Whiff of Death
• Chase scenes
• Nerdy acolytes we just learned to like getting eaten

It's a lot.

It felt good, and a little frenzied to get back to work at it tonight. It's amazing to me that I get so much done in about 30 minutes. Quality might be questionable, but on the other hand I've thought about this story so much over the past few months that I'm firing out scenes like a T-Shirt cannon.

Who ever thought that up? Seriously. Why did we need a T-Shirt cannon in our world?

Act 4 is coming up. I can hardly wait.

Missed Milestone

So, I didn't get the scenes done by month end, but it's not the end of the world.. The Litany of Excuses will not be recited, but let's say that I'm optimistic that I can crank out Acts 3 and 4 next week. I got Act 2 roughed out last week - including fixing a problem with it. I noticed that every scene was pretty much in the same general location and thought "booooooooo-RING!" So I threw a little something in there to break up the monotony and give a little foreshadowing for "The Bad Guys Close In."

I'm actually pretty happy with what I have so far, and I'm totally stoked to press on!

Oh, and after seeing the tragically awful Johnny Mnemonic recently I'm thinking Dina Meyer for Wells. I'm also seeing someone like James Marsden for Porter. I liked him in 27 Dresses - I thought he did a nice job with a scuzzy veneer on a good heart.

June's Closing In

So, this whole idea of having my scene board done by the end of May -- WHAT was I thinking? Was I thinking that I actually have free time or can stay up until 2 am every night like a twenty-something lackabout?

anyway...

I have Act 1 roughed out - though it's light. Only 7 scenes and I should have 9 or 10. I have some ideas on how to flesh that out (not flush it out, you Iron Mountain PM readers), so I'm not too worried. I need to inject the actual Disciple into Act 1 so she's not a complete surprise in the end.

My real worry here is time. The in laws arrive on Thursday so my time has been consumed by making the house look less like a neglected pre-school.


Still, I think I can get it done.


If anyone actually wants me to post the scenes as I'm laying them out, let me know via comment or email. I may wait until the board is done so I'm not distracting myself with the transcription.