Vaughn R. Demont's Blog, page 41

Work continues slow and steady on the Lightning Rod re-wr...

Work continues slow and steady on the Lightning Rod re-write, but my brain tends to play around with the following story as well, particularly little scenes and quotes that stick in my brain. One of the new characters in The City is Spencer Crain, a coyote probably destined to become James's sidekick in stories to come, and he's fun to write when I get a chance to write him.

Today though?

Spence gives a small shrug, almost hurt. I don't know if coyotes are capable of puppy-dog eyes...

Various Writing Process Stuff/Updates

So, in my planning for rewriting Lightning Rod, I've had to reconsider a lot of things that, let's face it, bogged the story down, plotlines that didn't pan out, etc. I see a lot of vestiges of a previous story that influenced Lightning Rod, and I think the first step is cleaning those out.

But I've also asked myself another question: What music does James really like?

When I first wrote Lightning Rod, I listened to a lot of Tool. I mean a LOT of Tool. The purpose was twofold: One, they tended...

Location Anxiety

Anyone know where someone with an MFA can find a job that pays more than minimum wage?

Hell, anyone know where someone with an MFA can find a job that even pays minimum wage?

This area may be cheap to live in, but the job market, well, sucks. I've put in applications everywhere, even McDonalds, and every place tells me, "You've got a Masters, you're overqualified."

So, many people suggest, "Why the Hell are you putting any education better than high school on your applications? You're asking to ...

So how to go about it...

I've mentioned that I'm going to try to go about rewriting Lightning Rod, or at least doing a substantial retrofit, and many fellow writers, and my editor have told me to "trust my process". This is a lot different than Goddard, where I was taught to trust their process, but hey, I got to study under Rachel Pollack while I was there so it's a win in my book.

What's my process? Well...

The issues thus far:

1. The story moves too slow.
I got this one a LOT, and well, it's accurate. It takes a lon...

Lightning Rod... 2.0?

So I heard back from Samhain about Lightning Rod.

It's a no.

With a maybe dangling like candy from it.

Here's the thing. When I wrote House of Stone, it was for me, it was because it was a cool story, and because someone had put the idea of a Fae porn star in my head.

Lightning Rod was written for one sole purpose: Get me my Master of Fine Arts.

This isn't to say I didn't love writing it. G. James Black will always be my favorite character, hands down, and I guess this is why I'm looking at t...

Quick Update

House of Stone is off to the final line editor, I should be hearing back on Lightning Rod by April 15th, and today I'll be substituting at my alma mater.

April Fool's Update

So that thing I was telling you guys about yesterday? About the guy I know, the "friend" who posted on his FaceBook that he'd been in a terrible car accident and possibly killed a kid?

He posted on his FB this morning, "So another April Fool's Day has come and gone, long live the reigning king!"

Sufficed to say, his ass was off my friend list after that.

Thing is, I know some people might have done some crap yesterday that was rather, well, cruel. So, I went to one of my favorite webcomics, Gui...

Why I Hate April Fool's Day

For every cute little joke passed along by Google or Blizzard or whatever, there's some sadist who puts some of the cruelest stuff out there and thinks a date on a calendar will excuse it.

Because tragedy strikes whenever, wherever, and for some sick cosmic reason seem to conflate together, and because of a fucking date on a calendar, I'm guarded.

I've seen not one, not two, not three, not four, not six, but seven various postings or messages or had conversations about some of the most terrib...

Another Review For Fred!

In another case of "Vaughn's always the last to know"...

http://www.twolipsreviews.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4938&Itemid=36

The Vampire Fred: Wicked Game got 4 out of 5 from Two Lips Reviews!

The Cover...

My favorite comment on it so far is the one from my Mom. "Wow! That looks just like a real book!" :)