Shannon Haddock's Blog, page 12
February 15, 2015
Annoying Dilemma
I’ve got a problem with Jake’s Last Mission, and I don’t know what to do about it.
You see, between writing it and giving it it’s final editing pass for publication, I discovered I write much better in first person. I toyed with the idea of converting it to first person, but that would’ve meant delaying its release, which would’ve meant I couldn’t have taken advantage of the two free print copies I got from CreateSpace for winning NaNoWriMo. Yes, this was a dumbass reason, considering a copy of the book only costs me $2.15 plus shipping, but I didn’t realize that at the time.
Oh well, it’s out and has gotten reviews and such, so whatever, get on with the next book, right?
That was the philosophy I was taking. Alas, I’ve since gotten two ideas for prequels. Both of them work much better in first person. In third they both are way, way too tell-y. I can’t make the emotions show without telling them from Jake’s POV, not just looking over his shoulder, but looking out of his eyes.
When I faced this same dilemma with “Once A Hero, Always A Hero,” it was easy. My only reviewer was my mother. I could account for all but about three sales personally. So I rewrote it with a clear conscience because it’s not like anybody could be mislead by reviews, you know? But with this one, I did the review group thing, a person or two found it on their own and reviewed it, so regardless of how much I revise it, people are still going to be judging it based on reviews of an earlier version, and that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to give it a fair chance.
So I don’t know what to do:
Do I leave it as it is and go ahead and write the others in first person and just let people chalk it up to Early Installment Weirdness? (Warning: TVTropes link. I am not responsible for lost productivity caused by clicking it.)
Do I leave it as is and write the others in third despite them suffering for it?
Do I take it down and release a completely rewritten version, under a different ISBN and maybe title, with a note in the front that it’s a heavily reworked version?
Do I rewrite it and just put in my description, as I’ve seen other indie authors do, “Reviews before DATE refer to an older version of the book”, despite me being annoyed by that, because it’s not like that changes the fucking average or anything?
I just don’t know. Advice?
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February 12, 2015
Progress Report
Instead of listing all my works-in-progress and getting depressed by how many I haven’t worked on in ages, this year I am instead updating how far I’ve come on the to do list I posted at the beginning of the year. With new items being added because I’m great at making plans, but suck at sticking to them. Asterisks mark things added before this update, but after the initial list.
January did not go well. Due to being sick for about a quarter of the month, I lowered my goals for editing and writing to 5000 words each. I wrote 2779 and edited 4690. So I guess I didn’t really do that poorly on the editing. It seemed like less than that.
Edit my wife’s story she wants to submit to Queers Destroy Science Fiction, if she decides she wants to expand it. DONE
Submit it for her. DONE, AWAITING RESPONSE
Finish editing my own story for Queers Destroy Science Fiction. DONE
Submit it. DONE, AWAITING RESPONSE
*Edit Jake thingy inspired by annoying bit in book I was reading. DONE
*Submit it to Queers Destroy Science Fiction too, since it’s flash fiction instead of a short story. DONE, AWAITING RESPONSE
Alternate between writing Blaughk on Earth, Intertwined Lives, and editing No More Lies, not becoming slavishly devoted to any one work, but keeping in mind and tracking my monthly word count goals. UPDATE: I’ve written 2206 words of Intertwined Lives since posting the last progress report. Unfortunately, most of that was a pair of chapters from the viewpoint of a character I’ve decided not to use as a viewpoint character.
NEW ITEM: Maintain schedule of editing and posting a chapter of Intertwined Lives every Tuesday. DOING FINE SO FAR.
NEW ITEM: Once have enough word count/regular installments to do so, submit Intertwined Lives to webfictionguide.com
NEW ITEM: Remember to use the #TuesdaySerial hashtag on twitter when announcing each week’s chapter. FORGOTTEN SO FAR, GO ME.
Publish No More Lies.
Devote a month to marketing it. Just a month. No more. After that, it’ll sink or swim on its own.
Alternate between writing Blaughk on Earth, Intertwined Lives, and editing the leytgeleshi short story collection, with the same caveats as above.
Write remaining leytgeleshi stories.
Alternate between writhing Blaughk on Earth, Intertwined Lives, and editing the Dagger short story collection, with the same caveats as above.
Write remaining Dagger stories.
Edit remaining leytgeleshi stories.
Publish leytgeleshi story collection.
Devote a week to marketing it. It’s going to be a free short story collection (or 99 cents, I can’t recall what we agreed on now.) There’s no sense in devoting a lot of time to marketing it.
Edit remaining Dagger stories.
Publish Dagger story collection.
Devote a week to marketing it. See above for why only a week.
Alternate writing Blaughk on Earth and Intertwined Lives.
NEW ITEM: Write rpg book. HAVE STARTED WORKING ON MECHANICS.
Word count for February so far:
Written: 946/10000
Edited: 6365/10000
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February 10, 2015
Chapter Two is up!
Chapter two of Intertwined Lives is now up. If anything looks or works weird, blame the site. It’s doing its best to drive me insane tonight.
February 9, 2015
Five star reviews — Rescue One: Breaking Point by Michael Gardner
The description, via Goodreads:
Antonio Baros has invented an engine that can propel a spaceship faster-than-light, but he has no idea if it works.
Fearful of losing the glory of his invention, Antonio pilots the prototype spaceship himself, with disastrous results. Alone in space, with little hope of survival, he must face his inner demons or reach his breaking point.
Breaking Point is the prequel to the forthcoming novel Rescue One.
And my review:
This was a very good, if rather short, story. I know it’s a short story, but it felt like it could’ve easily been a bit longer, like some of the flashback bits could’ve done with a bit more fleshing out. I liked the main character, especially that he was far from perfect while still being competent. I liked that it starts with things going wrong and then flashes back to how the experiment got funded and whatnot, instead of moving chronologically. Really, my only complaint is that it was so very short.
Like the last review I posted on here, there’s not much more I can say. This story was only 19 pages, so between the description and my review, everything non-spoilery is covered.
And I’m sorry the regular features of my blog haven’t been seen in a while. The short story that was supposed to have gone up a few weeks ago proved to be so far from my current standards that it needed rewritten, not just edited, and I couldn’t work up the enthusiasm or interest to do so, since it’s not really very interesting anyway. Then the next week I was so busy working on launching Intertwined Lives that I totally spaced on putting this up, and this week I, after getting frustrated with both GURPS and Traveller one time too many, finally started working on my own rpg system, like I’ve been considering doing for several years. And bought and started playing Torchlight 2, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with losing track of the date . . .
The post that was supposed to go up this week will be up Wednesday or Thursday, and a new chapter of Intertwined Lives will be up tomorrow!
February 2, 2015
First chapter is up!
I posted the introduction the other day, but today Intertwined Lives has officially started. Follow the link to the first chapter, wherein you meet some of the characters.
February 1, 2015
January 29, 2015
Space Opera Slice-Of-Life Serial, Updates Twice A Month
Ever wondered what heroes do when they’re not saving the day? Or what life is like for ordinary people in a place and time where going somewhere 100 light years away is just a couple hours trip? Click the image above then!
January 28, 2015
Support me on Patreon
If you want to. I mean, I’m not forcing you to or anything. I’m going to put Intertwined Lives up anyway; it’d just be really nice if people paid me to.
January 23, 2015
The purpose of character deaths
I was just, against my better judgement, perusing the forum of a webcomic I’ve been reading for years that’s presently got a really dramatic thing going on. I stumbled on a phrase that pisses me off beyond all reason: “if he’s willing to kill a character.”
Why does this piss me off so much? It’s, honestly, a bit hard to articulate, but the biggest reason is because of the implication that not killing a character is some sort of weakness.
Here’s the thing, non-writers: Sometimes characters aren’t killed because that’s not the story the author is trying to tell. It’s that fucking simple.
Also, just because something has evolved from being a gag a day thing to something with dramatic plot arcs doesn’t mean it’s turned into Game of Thrones levels of dark realism. And this doesn’t mean it’s less artistic/professional/whatever. It just means it’s different. Different is okay. I like Game of Thrones, but I sure as hell don’t want a steady diet of it.
I don’t have a problem with killing characters. Sometimes it’s the best thing for the story. But it should never be done just to show that the author is willing to do it. It should never be done just to show that a work is mature or dark or serious. It should be done when it’s what the story the author is trying to tell calls for. No other time.
If I ever get all the Universal Nexus stories kicking around in my head down on paper, there will be character deaths, but there will be a lot more miraculous recoveries from near deaths. Why? Because it’s, in my opinion, more interesting to see how a near death experience changes someone’s outlook on life than to kill them. Because while I write the occasional story so dark that I worry a bit about my mental health, generally I prefer to write happier stuff. Because when you’re writing about the top 1% of the top 1% it’s not realistic to have characters dying all the time. I’m pretty damned sure Delta Force and the SEALs don’t lose people on every single mission.
But mostly characters don’t die that often, because that’s not the sort of story I’m trying to tell. It’s that simple.
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January 18, 2015
Kavaliro Cousins Book Two Delayed Indefinitely
When I finished Crown of Eldrete, I immediately started the sequel, like the next day “immediately”. Twelve thousand words into it, I realized I’d started in the wrong spot and needed to cut the first ten thousand words. That was painful. Since then, nearly two years ago, I haven’t been able to get any idea how to write the bit that I knew happened next.
Then a few days ago it hit me: The reason it wouldn’t come together was because the entire fucking plot hinges on someone being out of character.
So, I’ll be scrapping the whole fucking thing and starting over . . . some time after I finish the novel I’m editing, the two I’m writing, and the short story collections I’m working on, that is.
