A.G. Carpenter's Blog, page 9

Heart (Writing Update 3.12.14)

A while back I blogged about just wanting to write stories. (I was going to link to it, but now I don't remember where I mentioned it. So, we'll just leave it at "I talked about this before.")


That's still true. Deep down, all I want to do is write stories. I'm not interested in pushing any sort of agenda or commenting on political structures or belief systems. I just want to write stories.


That being said, lately I've been more and more invested in writing stories that are true to human nature...

My Spoon is Too Big! (Writing Update 3.5.14)

If you get that reference, congratulations. You are already a nerd. If you don't, CLICK HERE. (And, you're welcome. (Also, those cartoons get very weird after the first 60 seconds or so. And kind of violent. But they won an Oscar.))


Today, I broke the 7k mark on the new Spider-thief story. I had planned, in the vague way that I plot things out ahead of time and guess how many words it will take me to tell a particular story based on how much stuff happens in it, to be almost done at this poin...

Protect Yourself - A Few Thoughts on the Tragic Death of Sarah Jones

I don't normally talk about much other than writing, but today is a little different so please bear with me.

In 2004 I graduated from The College of Santa Fe with a B.A. in Moving Image Arts, but due to one thing and another, I have not yet turned my full attention to a career path in the film and television industry. Writing fiction, believe it or not, was a more lucrative opportunity to make a living. However, I still have a number of friends who are working in the industry as actors, camera...

Tropes (Writing Update 2.28.14)

I have to admit, I like gender-flipping standard genre tropes. BRASS STARS had a female gunslinger with a gigolo companion and the last man in a family fighting to save what remained of the ranch. What's really awesome is seeing how the gender-changes reflect and challenge the original trope. Because Tashn is certainly a no-nonsense-I'll-take-care-of-this-myself kind of woman, but she's not just Clint Eastwood with boobs.

This past week I started work on a short-ish story that features a Valky...

Little Things (Update 2.20.14)

I always find my writing speed ebbs and flows. The end of last week and beginning of this one was hot - big word counts every day. Then, as I've moved toward the end of the week, the word counts got sluggish - barely scraping past 500 words. There are a couple of reasons for this.


First, because stress. I haven't the time nor the inclination to go into the detail that is the stupidity of our local sewer utility. But having a company on the other side of the country handle billing for a vital u...

Angst (Update 2.15.14)

Today I wrote more words. With lots of emotional flailing and weeping (by my characters, not by me). As a result it took about 5 hours to get a measly 2k words out of my head and into the hard drive. Not that I'm complaining, words are words. But certain things take more time to get out in any sort of readable fashion. (Fight scenes and sex scenes also seem to take for ever. Arguments on the other hand run out on paper like water from a cup.)


I also had another short story published. THE COLLE...

Snow News (2.14.14)

I did get a lot of words written on Wednesday (over 1.2k) but then there was this snow thing that happened.


Now, we had a snow thing down here in the south a couple of weeks ago. But this one was different. This one made my yard look like this.



 And it knocked out our electricity which forced me to do this yesterday evening. (See how all the snow is gone? It went from ten inches in the morning to 40 degrees and (mostly) melted off yesterday afternoon.)



I'm not used to making coffee in a per...

Strong (Update 2.9.14)

Today I added somewhere between 600-700 words to the new Spider-thief story. Still slower than I would like, but words are words. (And I've learned in the past that as long as I'm getting some new words with every writing session it's better not to worry so much about the quantity because it will even out. Eventually.)


The words from today finished up the final scene of the story, and continued to fill in the middle with my MC putting herself in danger in order to make certain she sees her alc...

Convergence and Skin (Update 2.8.14)

Today I rewrote the synopses for my novella proposal again. I'm more satisfied this time with how the plots are laid out; the stakes are higher for everyone concerned, especially in the third (and concluding) book.


I've also reached just over 2.7k words on the new Spider-thief story. I think I'm about 1/3 of the way through, but I'm writing out of sequence so my initial estimate that this one would turn out around 8k words may be way off. In the meantime, there are spiders and a case of mistak...

Words, Love and Hope (Update 2.7.14)

Still just a trickle today, wordwise. I added a bit more to the Spider-thief scene I had started on yesterday. Then I wrote the third synopsis for this little trilogy I'm trying to figure out. And promptly decided none of the three were good enough. So, back to the drawing board on that. (The overall plots are okay, I'm just trying to refine as much as possible. Compelling and coherent are goals for the day. So far I'm 0 for 2.)

I did get the copy edits on "The Collections Agent". It's due out...