T.R. Neff's Blog, page 6

New Day, New Year!

Happy New Year, one and all!

I wrote this a few days before but I can almost guarantee that I passed out in the chair* before making it to midnight (which has happened more often than not, even when I was a whole lot younger). I generally wake up a little after 12:05 and shuffle up to bed. After all, I need my sleep before the cat wakes me up at 0500 for his breakfast. At least the dog sleeps in.

I won’t be up to see the wonderfully bizarre drops in my home state. This here’s an article that’s more than a few years old, but does list some of the crazy ones in Pennsylvania. They drop a large Hershey’s Kiss up there in Hershey, of course. In my hometown, it’s a White Rose. York, if you’re wondering, and it only got a mention under Lancaster’s Red Rose. Hmph.

Anyway, I do get up early so I have time when all is quiet (provided I’ve fed the cat) and I can concentrate on writing. I’ve got a lot on my plate this year that I am counting on others holding my feet to the proverbial fire to keep me on track. These include:

Eater of Dreams – finish the revision (you can check out a story from that universe in the sidebar for free, my gift for signing up for the newsletter)Start the revision of a Cyberpunk Noir, working title: Vorsky. It’s set in the same universe as Clones Are People Two Revising a set of short stories in the same universe as The Falconer & The Wolf

So it’s going to be a full plate. I have a lot of things on the burners, but I don’t want to burn out by making tons of goals and reaching so few, so my list will be updated as required. Call it a new year’s resolution if you will.

Anyway, I’m probably hard at work on Eater of Dreams, driving myself crazy with getting these things just right and arguing with myself regarding whether or not I should put it on Vella in pieces or save it for one publication or just chuck it all out of the window and start fresh. Yes, I have days like that. Compared to revising the darn thing, writing is EASY.

What about you? Resolutions? Any you’ve set and kept?

*Passed out just from being tired, not drunk. I don’t drink now, and back in my youth when I did, it was very, very lightly. If you do drink and go out, please do yourself and everyone else around you a favor: DON’T DRIVE. There are so many more alternatives than when I was young, so there are ZERO excuses to drive drunk/buzzed/impaired. I’ve seen the lives of too many friends torn apart as a victim, family of a victim, or as the drunk driver. It’s not worth it.

A Day Late and Dollar Short

I don’t know how many in the younger generations have heard this used, but I’ve employed it frequently when speaking of my luck. In this case, however, I means I’m posting a day later than I normally do and, well, the dollar short thing? Aren’t we all short a dollar?

For a Few Dollars More, with Clint Eastwood. If you remember the movie, you probably heard the “lo-lo-lo-looooooo, wah-wah-waaaaaah” in your head when you saw this image.

I got knocked sideways for a day due to a sinus infection–I can get over them fairly quickly, or at least “over” enough to get back into my routine, but I have to remind myself that I shouldn’t feel guilty for spending a day to rest and heal. Am I the only one like that, who gets anxious when sick and have to get up and do chores around the house because of the guilt that it’s not getting done?

ANYWAY… to what I’d actually planned to write:

I am one of many in my family who plays video games, and have since all the way back when my dad bought us an Atari. We went through the Atari variants, moved on to the Commodore and Amiga, and hopped right on the PC and Mac. (Well, at least I did, with the Mac, and am quite comfortable on both platforms.) What types of games, you ask? LOTS. Arcade, sides-scroller platformers, first-person-shooters, simulators, point-click-kills like Diablo and Grim Dawn, etc. I’m kinda hooked on House Flipper at the moment, which is a lot more fun than I expected, and whets my interior design appetite. But my deepest love goes to the good old role-playing game (RPG).

Why, you ask? Probably because 1) I’d been an RPG junkie since I could read (and I was four). My brother, 10 years older than me, and I would run through the Dungeon! game a few times a week, which was really my first foray into the genre in spite of it being more boardgame-esque. He had the version with the mat, not the boards. I wonder if he still has it…

But even more important than the RPG aspect was the storytelling aspect. Any of you who play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) or any other tabletop RPG understand that it’s a cooperative storytelling setting. The only problem is getting together a bunch of like-minded* players who can come together on a regular basis to play. The video game version eliminated that need, as all it requires is a boot up and go. Now, don’t get me wrong, nothing really substitutes for a good sit-down with a few 7-dice sets, my DM screen and a group of enthusiastic players. And most of the video games play through exactly the same way each time, although there are some brilliant exceptions that give you a different play-through or endings depending on your decisions (see the Fallout and Witcher series).

So what is all this about? The storytelling. Someone else gets to be DM for a while and crafted a story that I get to experience for once. It creates an immersive environment that can, and does, spur imagination and other takes for a stalled story.

Not that I’m stalled on writing. It’s the revision that I’m working through–Eater of Dreams, still. If you want more details on my progress you can sign up for my free newsletter and even grab a free novelette, Whispering Dusk, set in the universe just for joining.

Speaking of freebies, don’t forget to take advantage of the free stories in the sidebar – two of them are ending on Friday. Some are available in Kindle Unlimited, others available through StoryOrigin (Readers join for free, authors foot the bill).

*I say like-minded, because it completely kills momentum for people when someone is only casually involved, or when one player wants a lot of combat and little role-play or vice-versa. Not that one is better than the other, but in order for everyone to have fun, the aim and the commitment have to all be even or kaput.

Closer to Christmas!

Totally NOT me decorating. My 2′ pre-decorated tree has been around for literally 30 years and it goes into a bag and back in the closet every Christmas. (From The Bishop’s Wife movie, if you are curious. Fantastic film.)

I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to Christmas. It might have something to do with the fact that for the first time in a long time I’ve got my gift shopping done. Granted, my list wasn’t terribly long (we have a large family and by necessity, decades ago, limited it to immediate family and drawing the names out of a hat), but it’s done. There was one person I was worrying about finding a good gift, let alone the perfect one, which is highly unusual because I have never had a problem getting something for them before. But… that’s been solved. So no more fretting.

Unless I forgot someone altogether… Yikes!

In the meantime, I’ve been busy doing some of the winter tasks, but I grab the dark early hours as the perfect time to get out my writing and revision. When it rains, when it snows… these are the moments for retreating inside (literally and metaphorically) and exploring the stories of my worlds.

Speaking of which, I have to say I find it really difficult to remain in one for long. I am currently spending the bulk of my time (every morning and some of the afternoon) on the Eater of Dreams. If you are interested in updates on that series (and a free novelette in that “Cthulhu-Eats-Tolkien” universe), sign up for my free newsletter (link is off to the left there if you’re reading this on a desktop, or at the bottom if you’re reading it on mobile).

As for this month, like October, we also have a tradition of delving into our Christmas movies and watching one each night (except for Svengoolie on Saturdays, unless we’re done our chores early and can squeeze one in. The older movies tend to be a little shorter). Kinda like an Advent Calendar of DVDs. We’ve already watched Christmas in Connecticut, It Happened on Fifth Avenue, The Shop Around the Corner. There will be It’s A Wonderful Life (of course), Miracle on 34th Street (not the 1994 one), A slew of Christmas Carols in all their incarnations (but my favorite is the musical Scrooge), The Bishop’s Wife (see image above), but also Deck the Halls, Christmas with the Kranks, Elf, Screwed and yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. There are a bunch more I didn’t mention. We save A Christmas Story* for Christmas day.

So how about you? Gift-wise versus writing stories, I mean. Do you get your shopping done early? Do you wait until the last minute? Do you get something for everyone or just do the name-from-a-hat thing? Do you celebrate Christmas or something else or nothing at all?

*Both of my parents grew up in the era that author Jean Sheppard describes in A Christmas Story/In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, and claims it’s spot on as far as their childhood went. I have actually been to Cleveland and did the rounds of the places where it was filmed (which is also close to the places where The Avengers was filmed, as well).

What are You Thankful For?

Yes, this IS a turkey: A “turkey, but beautiful” according to my then four-year-old-niece who couldn’t recall it was a ‘peacock’. And to prove her right, I found this on Pixabay when using ‘turkey bird’ in the search. So… there!

I call Thanksgiving “Turkey Day” and sometimes I get criticized for it: “It’s for giving thanks, not eating turkey.”

But the way I see it, it’s a lot like Independence Day/Fourth of July–I’m a Navy veteran, and I’m patriotic every day, not just on one out of the year. Or Valentine’s Day to be the only day you show your love for someone, or Halloween being the only one to dress up in costumes… *ahem*.

I give thanks every day (yes, to God, but I also remember to thank others, for we are nothing without others in our lives, and even those of us who are very independent rely on others a lot more than we’d like to admit). The third Thursday in November just happens to be the one day where I get to enjoy stuffing myself with juicy roasted turkey, homemade gravy and all the good eats that grace the table. Amen!

So, I thank all of you, my readers, for being here to read my sense and nonsense every time I post, and I pray and wish for blessings for each and every one of you. (Even those of you reading this and grumbling, who may be reading this just to have something to gripe about. In fact, I hope you get blessed out of the yin yang.)

I’m interested in hearing about your traditions (besides passing out on the sofa after eating yourself into a food coma).

And if you’re not in the US, do you or your family have any traditions of giving thanks for blessings and abundance?

New Promo Starting: Free Copies in Exchange for Reviews

Crossing the Finish Line – Not-So-NaNo Day 19

Well, there it is, folks. Clocked in at 50084 on Day 19. I’ve made the decision to shelve it at that word count, and will come back to it after I finish the other project I’m working on.

What I’ve discovered: I’m not a planner, I’m not a pantser, I’m more of a plantser.

I read somewhere recently that they write like planning a journey. Perfect analogy. You know your destination, and which route you are going to take (roughly). What I’ve found were some stops along the way I hadn’t considered, where I “got out of the car” and explored a little. A few of them I will probably end up cutting out of the “return journey” but there are some spots I hadn’t even considered, some surprises, that I definitely need to delve into a little deeper for some richer storytelling.

There are a few things I learned about the main character, depth that wasn’t apparent in my initial ideas. Some of his backstory won’t survive the revision but I needed to go there to flesh him out, and I like what I’ve discovered. Hopefully you as my reader will like him too.

He’s got a more-or-less permanent nemesis, one that hadn’t existed at all in the rough outline or my concept ideas. It was going to be “solve a murder and go home” but this guy rears his ugly head and I knew I’d have my Moriarity for this cyberpunk Sherlock.

Not-So-NaNo Day 14

The numbers are in! I’m closing in on the goal of finishing the rough draft of the “Tentatively Vorsky” story.

I know, I’m weird, I like to have multiple ways of tracking my progress. I’m pretty golden-brained (meaning I use both sides equally, not favoring right or left hemisphere), so creativity appeals but so does super-nerdy math and science. I like having both the stats and the visuals.

Of course now I’m torn by the dilemma of stopping once I’ve hit the 50k, projected to be done by the 19th, or do I keep adding words? Part of me wants to have that room to “explore” but another part of me thinks I’m just going to muddy the water with filler I will end up cutting out/replacing later during the revision after its cooldown period.

Do you write? During NaNo? What do you do?

Don’t forget to check out the “steals and deals” on the left side of the screen for some great reads while you wait for my next story to come out.

Until Tuesday…

Not-So-NaNo Day 8

Hey there! So I’m checking in on my normal Tuesday blog post with my update on the Vorsky story:

I’m well ahead of schedule, but I can feel the signs of the momentum slowing. Then again, I had a heavy schedule of other tasks today and yesterday so I hope that’s really what it is and I won’t be reduced to little better than 2000 words per day. When I’m this ahead of schedule, I also start arguing with myself whether it’s better to wrap it up and shelve it for percolating time or keep adding words. I’d really like to get back to editing the Eater of Dreams first installment*.

What do you think?

*Eater of Dreams is the name for my Dark Fantasy series that I’m describing as “Cthulhu-Eats-Tolkien”. If you’re interested, you can get the novelette prequel-of-sorts, Whispering Dusk, as a newsletter exclusive via “In Other Worlds…” the official newsletter of Overlord M Press and T. R. Neff, just for signing up. It’s free. Click on the pic.

Not-So-NaNoWriMo Day 5

Day Five and I’m just trucking along with my progress in the “Tentatively Vorsky” story, which takes place in the same universe as Clones Are People Two.

In case you were wondering, DLYSS is Daily Sessions, each of them being 30 minutes to the timer. I added the TTLSSN or Total Sessions so I could do some calculations off to the side to see how long my outline would clock in and how fast I could be done with the 50K word draft. As of today, its 18NOV2022. If you’re interested in the process of writing as many words per session as I do:

When they say anyone can write the novel, they really aren’t kidding. To the timer of 30 minutes a session, I can knock out an average of 1037 words, as you can see in the first table, which makes the 50k words in 30 days challenge a breeze.*

I’ve altered things a bit how I approach writing the first drafts of my stories, regardless of whether its a short or a novel.

The first thing I do is plot-card everything, by writing my ideas for the scenes and a few details on index cards (I use 4″ x 6″ cut into four). To be fair, I DID start this before November, but it’s just putzing around with the idea for the story at that point, playing out scenes in my head to see if it would work as a story, and what size** it should be.

Then I use a sheet of 18″ x 24″ drawing paper that I divided into four parts and drew on blocks roughly corresponding to the Save the Cat formula. I don’t write exclusively to that form, but it does help for me to see where the pacing may be a little thin or slow in some areas, but it’s a novel, not a screenplay, so I can play the long game a little bit. Yes, yes, I know I can use Scrivener to do this, but when I am first getting started, nothing replaces the tactile cards for moving ideas around.

When it comes time to start typing it in, I don’t worry about the formatting and making it look pretty. In fact, I use bullet points and keep each one less than three lines long. This serves a two-fold purpose for me: it divorces me from the idea that I have to “pretty up” whatever I’m putting on the paper in rough draft, since it’s really just an “outline” and it also makes it easier to find certain lines on a visual scan in case I want to move ideas around within a scene. My words come a whole lot faster when I’m not worried about picking the perfect word. (I also, if I know it’s not right and I will want to choose another one, I just capitalize it and move on. I’ll pick better in revision).

Later, after everything is filled in and the first draft is complete, I can go back and edit this bullet-point rather than prose. This also has a dual purpose: I’m not married to words I spent a whole lot of time perfecting, so if lines or scenes have to go, I can chuck them without remorse. Editing an outline is a whole lot less painful. At that rate, I get about 500-750 words of revised story done per day. And I go back after everything is written out and re-read again, so technically it’s going through a second revision but that one is a lot faster. It’s a relatively new process for me, but I’ve gotten quite a few stories completed this way. Now I just have to finish the bundles and find covers for them before I’m tempted to go back re-read and re-revise…

* Revision is the hard part. Ask me why I have literally sixteen 50k words+ novels done (one of them 130k+ words), but only one revised and published as of now. Go on, ask… I’ll also invoke the Holly Lisle course here on How to Revise Your Novel, which is helping immensely to get my revision skills up to par. DISCLAIMER: I was an affiliate at one point but this link won’t earn me anything. I still recommend it, however, if you are trying to whip your own book into shape.

**That’s one of my huge weaknesses there–I have a lot of trouble keeping stories short. With a few exceptions, all the stories I’ve written in the last two years came in too long for any submissions to magazines.

Not-So NaNoWriMo, Day 1

It’s that time of year again! I’ve noted in other posts why I don’t go over to the National Novel Writing Month site or participate in local chapters (in short, very toxic people, nearly all of them), but I find the mad push too hard to resist, so I participate in my own way. This year I’m using my own spreadsheets but adding the functionality of StoryOrigin’s tracker to keep my progress under constant surveillance. Max accountability and all that.

Here’s my spreadsheet (don’t be surprised if other columns show up during the month or things get moved around/revamped. I’m a spreadsheet and statistics nerd who likes to build from scratch each year rather than using my same old template):

And here’s the StoryOrigin Tracker:

I’ll probably be posting every few days, or maybe just when I hit the 5000 word milestones. Or whenever. So check back or follow me to watch my progress. And let me know if you’re a participant (I won’t hold it against you) and what your own progress is in the comments.

And while you’re waiting for the final draft of “Tentatively Vorsky” to come out, here’s additional reads for you to consider, free and sale:

In the Spirit of Mischief, Part III

Yes, yes, I know it’s not the every-other-Tuesday so please don’t fret that you’ve time-jumped. No, it’s just me landing here for Halloween with another look at the kind of modern imps and pranksters we have today. If you haven’t seen the others, check them out here: Part I and Part II

Virtually all of us have smartphones* (you may even be reading this post on one of the devices). So I’m 99.99% certain you’ve come across this little devil somewhere.

Altiliumus luditor, or the “Phone Devil.” What does this guy do, you may ask? Well, he’s got several little spheres of power. For one, he can take a fully-charged phone and drop it’s power down to 30% after one phone call or streaming one half-hour show. He’s also been known to break into your recent call history and initiate calls to other people, usually at the most inopportune times (bathroom breaks, for instance). He also run away and hide with it, wait until you’re exhausted by the frantic search around the house/car/work location where you last saw it, then put it back when you turn your head.

Note: this is NOT to be confused with the demon that lives IN the phone itself. Someone woke one up by sticking their phone in the microwave.

*I’m old enough to remember the evolution from “cell phones” then “cellular phones” and “landlines” and “cordless” and “touch-tone” and “rotary”. Anyone else know what a party line is? We had one when I was very young, and had to NOT be mischievous myself when picking it up to check that the line was free, or else I’d be listening in on the conversation between two strangers.

NEW, FOR MY READERS’ TRICK OR TREAT BAGS: LAST CHANCE FOR THESE: