Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 68

Snow Day

Rare snow day here in the The South (USA), so I took the time to read, something I rarely get to do these days.

So I finished a comic book on my backlog-Star Wars 01 (2015) Marvel Comics. The story features the original characters (Luke, Leah, Han & the rest) and is set between Star Wars: A New Hope & The Empire Strikes Back.

I wrote a short review at http://www.Goodreads.com. I’ve quoted here as well:

As a “child” of Star Wars (Star Wars, Empire, and Return of the Jedi were my “Harry Potter” & “Hunger Games”), I always view new interpretations with both excitement and trepidation. Excitement, to see my favorite characters in new stories and trepidation, hoping that the creators don’t mess it up and get it wrong. The new Star Wars comic by Marvel has been getting good reviews, so I took a chance and bought issue 1 via Amazon. Well, so far, these creators got it RIGHT!

The characters act and sound just like they should. The story setting is interesting and the story itself has that original Star Wars feel (not that slightly nebulous and incongruous feel of the prequel trilogy.) I’ve ordered issue 2 and if it is good then I think that I’m going to try follow it regularly.

I know I’m high on my score (most are giving 4 stars), but I’m really pleased with it. Now, 1 issue does not make (or break) a series, but (just like the upcoming 2015 movie The Force Awakens) I am cautiously optimistic about Star Wars’ future in the near term. The Force is Strong with this one.

Blueprints – Writing and Letting Go

A LOT has happened in the past two weeks and I’ve changed quite a bit (at least I like to think so).

First, I caught a cold from one of the students on Friday and felt terrible from Saturday morning when I awoke until Monday morning when it was time to go back to work. ��I literally did nothing the entire weekend. ��I did get to watch the Super Bowl, but that’s about all I did was simply watch it (and the commercials). ��I had been stressed the entire week before at work and I learned that my body and stress don’t mix well. ��Lessons that I learned on how to cope had to be relearned as suffered through the weekend. ��As much as I want��all my students to be brilliant, make good grades, and behave well so that I can teach them, the fact is I can’t control what they do or don’t do, I can only control my reaction to them. ��So that’s what I focused on all of this past week — letting go.

So it was timely when I heard this week’s IGN UK Podcast: “The Force is Strong With this One.”�� The interview is with Gary Whitta who works in Hollywood as a Screenwriter. ��He has worked on��The Book of Eli, After Earth,����and has just finished up work on��The Star Wars: The Force Awakens. ��

Now, as he’s talking I realize first that the podcast is talking the way that I’d envisioned the blog operating–not��just��about writing, but about all things Science Fiction/Fantasy (from movies to games to novels to little hints about the industry that he works–the whole nine yards). ��I realized that I’ve seen both��Interstellar��and��The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and haven’t at least shared opinions on them (and yet, they are in part why I write Sci-Fi and Fantasy–to do what they did, just on the page).

But one thing that��REALLY struck me was the idea of writing (scripts especially) as��BLUEPRINTS. ��Essentially, he notes that in Hollywood, the scriptwriter sells the script and is no longer in control of the script’s (and by extension–the story’s) fate.��It is��the movie’s director��who ultimately becomes the��“author.” ��He shares that his��movie��The Book of Eli��was unique in two ways 1) it was ORIGINAL–not based on some preexisting property (which is rare in Hollywood) and 2) what ended up on the screen was MOSTLY what was on the page. ��The movie After Earth–well, not so much.

You have to let go of the process in collaboration. ��In movies, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people spending millions to make your vision come alive and you have to hope that it turns out like you have it in your head (or laid it out on the page).

The implications for me are clear: when I write scripts (Graphic Novels), I need to turn it over to my artist and not try to “direct.” ��If it matches my vision, awesome. ��If not, move on to the next project in hopes that the next one will. ��My first experience with collaboration went well up until I saw the finished artwork. ��With all due respect to my artist (whose artwork was awesome) it just didn’t match up to the Marvel artwork at the time that I was reading and envisioned for the project.

Lastly, I can also use this for the rest of my writing–right now, I spend months on short-stories for a $10 – $25 payment. ��I’m very detailed and I don’t want to lose that, but I’m making a couple of small tweaks to writing to help me be a little more efficient. ��Instead of writing at night after teaching all day, I’m taking a little time on the weekends and dedicating it to writing (I’m writing the blog post right now during this time, so hopefully its working!). ��I can still write during the week if I feel so inclined, but I��KNOW that I’ll have a block of time to write no matter what if for some reason (tired, illness, etc.) that I can’t write during the week.

There were many other takeaways from this past week, but I’ll save those for future blog topics. ��Expect more of “round robin” approach on future topics as well–not just on writing and my process. ��Later, all!

Tech Update – Strangeness! ��Router=stable, Wifi=comes and goes at��its whim (been up for 3 days without a hitch, though.

Writing Update – Slowness! ��Added a little more to 2nd scene of HAWKEMOON. ��Worked on setting and characterization. ��Hoping to finish this scene today. If so, 2 down, 2 to go.

Why I Write Fantasy . . .

So the trailer that I’m posting is for��Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Online game. ��It is long–it clocks in over 23 minutes, but if you have the time, it is��well worth the investment as it helps to illustrate the reasons that I write Fantasy stories. ��Go ahead, take a moment to watch it, I’ll wait . . .

Finished?

I hoped you liked it as much as I did. ��But in case you didn’t, here are my reasons that I found it inspired:

Larger than Life Characters – There were 3 main characters. ��I don’t know their backstories, don’t know their histories, don’t know much about their motivations (other than they seem to want the city/citadel for conquest). ��However, you do learn a lot about their��personalities through this trailer. ��You get a sense that guy with the beard is a “rough and ready” sort of person, the kind of person you’d go drinking with, but definitely not the type person you’d invite to tea with the Queen. There is a gruff, down and dirty feel to him that is emphasized by his headbutting, spitting, and all around mean/callous disposition. ��The Ranger of the group seems to have a nobility about him. ��He kills with precision, but is never cruel about it in the same way the bearded warrior is and that makes his “corruption” all the more tragic. ��His most poignant moment comes when we see him holding the cloth of a presumed paramour as his eyes implore the female elf to end his suffering. ��And speaking of the woman elf, she is��no damsel in distress. ��She is more than capable of holding her own and giving just as well as she gets. ��In fact, I would argue she’s the main hero of the trailer in that it is her actions that ultimately save the group from outright death at the hands of the “evil” forces. ��Without her quick thinking, the entire group would have mostly likely died on the field of battle. ��No, they do not have the emotional depth and growth of characters in��War and Peace, but even from this short vignette, we can get a clears sense of who these characters are and what makes them tick.
Stunning Visuals – Computer graphics and imagery are wonderful. ��Having grown up in an era of practical effects and now watch CGI, I can see how far the effects industry has come. ��However, I would argue that NO visual effect can match��the mind’s eye. ��Being able to describe on paper all of those cool things that were in that trailer is both my challenge and my reward. ��I��SEE the stories in my head just like I see these trailers–as movies. ��They progress and then they finish just as the trailer did. ��My challenge is to find a way to replicate what I see in my Mind’s Eye into words on the page. ��Rarely, I get it right the very first time. ��More often than not, I get only bits and pieces right while others don’t come out correctly–as that image was “fuzzy” when I was trying to replicate it on the page. ��I sometimes have to do 2 or more drafts for the story to come out like I wanted.
Insane World-Building – So what’s on the other side of that Rift that held the anchors? ��Why do they want the city/Citadel so badly? ��What is the Elf “King” hiding in that city? ��Just where did the bearded guy end up at the end of the trailer? ��There are so many avenues of exploration for world-building��here that one spin stories out for a long time. ��That’s what good characters and good world-building gives you, a way to tell stories. ��Now, because it is Bethesda’s property, there is already a history and backstory to this world. ��If you’re at all interested, check out the YouTube video below (clocks in @11:00 mins). ��But just imagine that��YOU were the writer of this vignette and the��Possibilities that could come from fleshing out this world. ��Awesome!


Dramatic Action – This is my final reason and is also my most personal. ��For me, History is not a dry thing learned from textbooks and recited from rote memory, but rather a living breathing thing. ��It is alive and active. ��It moves, it adapts, and it is something that��requires action. ��Right now, we live in a world of drama (and I mean that in both its formal and slang definitions). ��Readers and writers today seem to want to see things that are dramatic, but not necessarily filled with action. ��For instance, I find myself rereading an older Fantasy series called the Belgariad and the Mallorean by David Eddings or newer series such as The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson because they are trying to save their worlds from destruction using the tools that they have available. ��I personally cannot read popular works such as Game of Thrones because it is “Mean People doing Mean Things to each other and Mean Things to Non-Mean People.” ��I tried to read The Game of Thrones but couldn’t get past the first few chapters–not because of the writing, but because they weren’t doing anything but being mean to one another just because they could. ��I want to see/write action, where the goals can be large or small (but are usually large) where they struggle and strive rather than bicker, wench, and murder just for the sake of it. ��Now, I realize this is probably just me, but to me, action��defines a story, not limits it. ��Just because there are beautifully choreographed fight sequences, doesn’t make it resonant any less than a story that lacks those same scenes (and the inverse is true as well–a story that lacks action is not inherently more of a story).

Well, that’s all I have for today. ��My next post will *probably* be a post on why I like Science Fiction. ��If not, it will come later on this year. ��Now to the Weekly Updates:

APPLE ROUTER WEEKLY UPDATE

Soooo, I thought I was over/past the hump on this problem, but it seems not. ��On Tuesday, wi-fi began to work properly without me doing anything. ��It stayed up through Friday, so I thought everything was fine. ��Yet, when I just started to write this blog, Wi-Fi went down and would not let me connect to my laptop. ��I had to plug in my ethernet cable and restart in order to write this blog post. ��Uggghhh! ��So frustrating.

WEEKLY WRITING UPDATE

Soooo, I made a mistake. ��As a teacher, I find my body HATES Mondays., trying to get back into the school schedule really does a number on me. ��I usually crash 1-2 hours earlier than I do for the rest of the week. ��So I don’t even try to write on Mondays. ��I start writing on Tuesdays. ��Since school started on Tuesday, I ��did not write on Monday, but tried to keep to my normal schedule, but found that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. ��I did manage 4-5 strong paragraphs on HawkeMoon, but was not able to complete the section, so I’m going to say .5. ��Did not get to work on any other projects this week. :(

HawkeMoon��(.5 of Section 2 = Total Progress on Story – 1.5 sections done of 4 total sections)

DREAM BIG FOR 2015

For me, 2015 is all about��Dreaming Big. On New Year’s Day, I was half-watching the 2015 Rose Bowl Parade while doing something else. ��I have always loved the floats, be they crazy, inventive, traditional, or imaginative. ��Usually, the floats have some elements of whimsy associated with them and I usually gravitate to the floats that are fantastical, futuristic, or highly imaginative in some way (the floats that feature animals are a particular favorite).

This year, the “Dream Big: World of Possibility” float caught my eye. ��It featured Jack Black and one of his former teachers (among others). ��It was also designed to honor teachers. ��It had fantasy and sci-fi elements and I was captivated.

So, my motto for 2015 is simply, “Dream Big.” ��How that manifests itself this year, I don’t really know. ��I’m hoping that it translates into my first novel, but we’ll see.

What I do know is that Far Orbit: Apogee, the newest entry in the Far Orbit Anthology series is open to submissions until 3/31/15. ��My goal is two-fold: 1) to submit a sci-fi short-story to them and 2) focus all my writing projects to the deadline of 3/31 (which means that I write all the way until 3/31 and then begin submitting everything I’ve written–or rewritten–after that date.)

So essentially, 3 months of focused writing time, followed by a period of submissions out to markets. ��Then I’ll try to find another deadline to write to–did I mention that I’m pretty good with deadlines? ��Incidentally, I made the banner a link, so click on it if you want to find out more about the Far Orbit: Apogee and the type of work they are accepting.

So, on to the Weekly Updates:

Weekly Apple Router Update:��Still not working correctly. ��I thought on Friday night/Saturday I had a breakthrough as devices such as the iPad and iPhone were able to connect after I erased several passwords and “repaired” my hard drive using the Mac’s Disk Utility feature to “clean up” permissions and “repair” the disk. ��But, later Saturday night, I started to lose wi-fi and by the end of the night, Internet was��completely down. ��Couldn’t even access it through the ethernet port (which is one reason that this blog post is a day late). ��There are several errors that seem to be in play and I’m not sure what’s going on. ��For anyone who even wants a��sample of the frustration that I’m having with my network right now, check out this��forum posts:��https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6607637?start=30&tstart=0. ��And this is only one of the MANY threads that I’ve read over the past 3 weeks. ��Still not sure of what the problem actually is–firmware, Airport Utility, settings, flaky unit, or what? ��I just know that it is very hard to diagnose and I’m limping along right now.

Weekly Writing Update:��Didn’t get a ton of writing done this week, but I did get SOME writing done, so I would call it a successful week. ��Worked on two projects: HawkeMoon and Project Skye. ��Also discovered something: I’m okay for creative writing on Tuesday nights, but by Thursday nights I’m exhausted. ��Might try to REVISE or REWRITE on that night and see if that works��better–I didn’t get ANY writing done Thursday despite my best intentions. ��I’ll see how it goes.

HawkeMoon: Section 1-��“Predawne”��Done –��(Story Sections – 1 of 4 Done)
Project Skye:��Planning – Work in Progress on Section 3 of 3

If It Isn’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!

Hi, Everyone,

Took an extra couple of days to get around to write this blog post while trying to (still) diagnose this vexing wifi problem that I’m having with my router.  I’ll update you on the status of the problem at the end, but this particular problem has reminded me of something very important: the greatest piece of advice ever given to me (and sort of my unofficial motto)–if it ins’t broke, don’t fix it.

There was nothing wrong with my old router.  I just happen to live in a city with ridiculously fast Internet Fiberoptic speeds (for a reasonable price).  My old router (manufactured in 2006) worked just fine, but it was unable to allow me to access all of  the blazing speed of my service.  The new router has new tech and specs that will allow me to access much more of the speed (although still not all of it as my 2008 computer can’t access the highest wifi “a/c” spec needed for the fastest speed).  But this has been a nightmare to get working.  

Surprisingly, though, the feeling of frustration is familiar.  It is the same feeling I get whenever I try to attempt a novel.  Nothing that I do works when I try a novel.  Every strategy that I’ve read or come up with on my on doesn’t seem to translate into a longer form work.

My writing process is dead simple.  I start with a TITLE.  To me, the title is like a “seed” or a “vision” of what the story is going to be.  whether I write long or short, creatively or academically, 99.9% of what I write starts with the title.

Then I move on to the ROUGH DRAFT.  This is where I “tell” myself the story from beginning to end.  Doesn’t matter if I don’t know character names, place names, or anything specific (I just use placeholders such as “the knight,” for instance), all I need is the Plot (events) that I want to specifically remember to put in the story.  It reads like a stereo manual.  Blank did this, Blank did that, so on and so forth . . . no dramatization at all.

After that it is the WORKING DRAFT.  I call it a Working Draft because it is the draft that is a “Work in Progress.”  It may (or may not) end up being the final draft of the story, but the ultimate finished story will look a LOT like this draft.  This is the draft that gets the dramatization.  This is the draft where characters become set, emotions are acted out, and where the action follows the old writing cliche': Show, don’t tell.

Lastly, I finish with the EDITED DRAFT.  I shy away from using the word “Polished Draft” or “Final Draft,” personally because even when done, it seems like there’s ALWAYS one more error to find and corrected, or that even after I’ve submitted it, there are changes that I really want to make in the story.  An Edited Draft (for me) means that I’ve pretty much gotten the story “locked” down the way I want it (it matches on paper the idea that I saw in my Mind’s Eye) and ALSO that I’ve edited it and made it as free of mistakes as I possibly could.  This is the draft that I send out to editors.

Somehow, I’m NOT following this procedure for novels.  I’m getting the Titles down just fine (I’ve got at least 10 good possibilities for really evocative stories/story ideas based on cool titles).  Somewhere I’m getting lost between the Rough Draft and Working Draft phases.  I have the whole idea for Project Skye written out on the Notes app of my iPhone, but the chapters are getting off base.  For instance, in the rough draft, Skye is in a massive dogfight with pirates, but in the chapters she’s running away from the pirates.  I NEED her in the dogfight for the events to unfold so that she can get to a “floating city,” but with her running, the plot doesn’t work and she has NO reason to go to the city.  Somehow, I’ve messed up from rough draft to working draft and I don’t know where I went wrong because this doesn’t happen when I write short fiction.  When I write short stories, I write in Sections.  Sort of like mini-chapters because each of the sections usually has its own title.  These sections give my stories a “wrapper” as it were and gives me an idea of what will be going on in each section.  Not sure how to do this in long form writing, yet.  How to give my longer writing some sort of “wrapper” so that I can complete it and join the ranks as a published novelist?

Not sure yet.

2015 is the year where I challenge myself to figure it out! :)

WEEKLY WRITING UPDATE

New Short Story Started – HawkeMoon (Tentative Title) – Rough Draft (done), Working Draft (In Progress)
New Novel Idea Started – Project Star – Rough Draft (In Progress)
New Novel Idea Started – Project King – Rough Draft (In Progress)

Happy 2015!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy, Safe, and Prosperous 2015!

I took a bit of a break from OtherWorlds due to illness, work (teaching 6th grade language arts), the holidays, and (more) illness.  Unfortunately, that’s also true for my writing (although the illness allowed me to come up with several ideas for new stories and projects).

One of the things I would love to work on is to be more consistent with the blog, so while it isn’t a full New Year’s Resolution, it is a “mini-resolution” for me.  I work well weekly, so while I’m not going to commit fully to it, it is a definite goal for me.  So we’ll see how closely I come to my goal in 2015.

In other news, I bought a new router.  tt

I’m moving from a 2007 Apple Router (pictured above) to the new 2014 Apple Router (pictured below).

The transition isn’t going quite as I planned, so my wi-fi may be spotty until I work through the issues.  Shouldn’t affect the blog (I’m writing this now with the ethernet cable plugged directly into my laptop), but it may affect my writing as my “rough drafts” are written on the iPad connected via wi-fi.  I usually email the drafts to myself, print them out and do pencil notes on the hardcopy, then return to the laptop to put in the edits.  Much slower, but it gets me the quality of writing that I like, so we’ll see how this works.

Anyway, wanted to make sure that I wished everyone a Great 2015!

When the Writing Life gives you Lemons, make Lemonade.

So, the reviews are in – Faerie Knight has been reviewed in Tangent, an online publication devoted to reviewing short fiction when they reviewed the anthology Fae (edited by Rhonda Parrish).

So, these are my first reviews (professional) and suffice to say, while they are not bad (on the whole), they do offer criticism, both deserved and (in the mind of a writer) probably some that’s a little . . . well . . . nit-picky.  If you want to read the whole review for Fae, you can find it at Tangent Online, but I’m only going to talk about the reviews for my story, “Faerie Knight.”

John Sulyok had this to say:

“Faerie Knight” by Sidney Blaylock, Jr.

Though Thomas Theron was blind, he never let that hinder him from knowing when one of his student’s was misbehaving. He’d honed his other senses over the years and has become quite adept at understanding his surroundings. And that makes him a particularly good Knight of the Fae. Once a year, on Halloween, he accepts his Queen’s boon—the gift of sight—so that he may watch over the little trick-or-treaters, protecting them from the Unseelie Court that tries to swap human children with changelings. Thomas, old now with aching joints, must use all his senses, including his sense of duty, to fight the evil on this night.“Faerie Knight” cuts to the chase, almost literally. There’s very little set up, so it feels almost like the entire story is a third act. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it’s exciting, but the story also wouldn’t have hurt from more. Thomas and his history with the Seelie Court fighting the Unseelie court begs for more screen time. But it hits the spot if you just want a little action.

C. D. Lewis remarked on the story in this way:

Sidney Baylock, Jr. sets “Faerie Knight” in a world of good faeries and evil faeries, where the dark and the light are clear and the reader easily believes the depicted wrongs that need righting. The protagonist, a blind schoolteacher when not serving his Queen, thrills to do her bidding but worries advancing age and physical decrepitude have dulled his edge. “Faerie Knight” begins as the ageing servant undertakes One Last Ride. And the evil he’s asked to fight? It’s bad Fae, and they’re not just stealing children, they’re turning them bad. Once in a fight, the old Knight seems for the first time to rely on his hearing to do for his Queen what he does for himself the rest of the year, and soon his Halloween performance begins to look like Rutger Hauer’s in Blind Fury. His weird Fae weapon seems crafted for style over function: it’ll cut anything, perhaps, but apparently only if hit by both blades on opposite ends of the handle. On the upside, it’s a safety blade: it won’t easily injure bystanders accidentally. Since the protagonist takes care to keep fights outside the crowded high school Halloween party, though, we don’t see that feature in action. What we do see is an action hero who displays a pleasant degree of thoughtfulness, who carefully avoids provoking unnecessary conflicts, and whose sense of duty ultimately convinces him to keep up the fight as long as the kids need him. Bad knees, or no.

So, there are elements in both reviews that I love and that I . . . don’t love.  But this is NOT a gripe post.  I’ve highlighted the parts of the reviews that really stood out and made me think.  I’ve been wanting to write graphic novels and add that in as sort of a triumvirate of media to work in (short stories, novels, and graphic novels) as I try to discover how to become a professional writer.  What I took from these reviews is that:

I’ve already done the hard work in creating the character (the “Who Am I?”) and found a compelling story.
I now have a character that I can build more stories for and can give my characters (as John Sulyok says), “more screen time.”
Work Smarter, Not Harder: if I’ve done a story that is good enough to be published, then there is something in there that is special and I need to focus on it.  If I’ve written the story as a short-story, that doesn’t preclude the story being expanded, added to, adapted, and enhanced to bring it to another medium.

To that end, I’ve decided that all my short-story projects that I get published, would probably make good Graphic Novels as well.  The first chapter of the story has already been written.  I can use that as a “stepping stone” to add on and create a story that furthers the character and gives him/her “more time on the stage.”

I’ve also realized that plans are great until they get in the way of execution.  The past 3 or 4 blog posts have been about plans and changes and introspection and reflection, but haven’t really been about execution.  Since I’m no artist, I’ve joined and created a profile on DeviantART, a well-known and established website for artists.  I’ve investigated some artists whose style I like and I’ve favorited them and set my profile to follow.  I will be asking them what their rates are for creating artwork for characters as I want to see how they interpret my main character for “Faerie Knight.”  I’ve also started writing/adapting the published story for “Faerie Knight” into Chapter 1 of the “Faerie Knight” Graphic Novel.

Look for updates on this new project in 2015!  Oh, and if anyone knows of any good publishers for fantasy graphic novels that I should keep an eye on, please leave them in the comments.  Thanks!

Who Am I?

No, the title isn’t referencing the 1998 Jackie Chan Movie–even though it is good martial arts fun (as all of Jackie Chan’s movies tend to be):

No, this particular entry comes from 2012 Amazing Spider-Man movie.  At the end (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it), there is a scene where Peter Parker is going into an English Class.  During the class, the teacher is talking, and the teacher says that a professor of her once told her that there were 10 types of plots.  She says, “No, there is only one plot.  Who am I?“

Unfortunately, the scene moves away from the English lesson at this point.  I think I know what she was referring to, however.  The idea that CHARACTER is the most important part of fiction and that ALL of the plot revolves around the character’s needs, wants, problems, and solutions.

If the character is interesting enough and if what they want is strong enough to satisfy the character’s needs, then the plot will come together far more easily than trying to shoehorn the story into a plot “type.”

I wonder if this is true, so I’m going to try it out over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I’ve had a character in mind for ages.  His name is Roland.  And he has a compelling problem (in my mind, at least).  So, tonight, after I finish writing this blog post, I’m going to write a 1 page, “Who Am I?” for Roland.  Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I’m going to try to write the rough draft for the short-story “Project Roland” and see if finding the character is truly the SECRET to creating a story that pops and resonates.

Since “Faerie Knight,” I’ve been disappointed by the stories that I’ve written in the interim (except I, Magi).  All the other stories seem flat and lifeless.  I’ve written rough drafts for them, but except for Magi, I haven’t really done character sketches for the main characters of the other stories.  I’ve begun to even lose Skye’s character as well.  I started with a clear idea of who she was and what she wanted, but I didn’t write it down and now I find myself starting to be fuzzy on her motivations as I’m beginning to transition her to another part of the story at the end of chap. 3.

If this experiment works, then I’ll know that I’m only really ready to write a story once I have a character locked in so well that I can do a “Who Am I?” sketch on them. If this is the case, then my goal should be go back through all my stories (new and old) and work on the characters to try to improve my stories so that I can begin to sell stories consistently.

Destined for Greatness: Destiny and Deadlines

So, now I understand why characters are so compelling in fiction.

They are your conduit into a new world.  If you create the right character and imbue that character with traits that are irresistible and then put that character into a compelling world, then you can LOSE yourself into the story.

That is essentially what has happened to me for the past 2 months.  Bungie’s Destiny has taken hold of me in a way that few games have done.  My character is mostly a cipher, but does talk in a couple instances.  Yet, mostly I ascribe a history, backstory, and to some extent, a narrative around my character’s actions in the greater world.  Yet, there is something that is SO compelling about Destiny and the way its mythos has snuck its tendrils into me.  I have thought about writing in this blog for weeks, but each time I pulled out the computer, I realized that what I really wanted to do was to go and play Destiny.

I daresay that it was an addiction of sorts.  There was nothing more for me than Destiny.  I played it every evening after coming in for work and I played it on the weekends when I probably should have been writing.  I could lie and say that I’m not sure why Destiny grabbed me the way it did, but I do know the reason: Levels.

My strength is starting at Level 1 and progressing (however tediously) through the levels until I reach the top level (or close to it).  Give me a level and a number and I will chase it with dogged determination.  I’ve been doing this since 1st Grade (Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, etc.).  I can’t resist.

Destiny was smart–they essentially have 3 levels of levels.  The first set of levels (up to level 20) is the “base game.”  All of the story/narrative content gets your character up to level 20.  After level 20, you have start looking out for armor that has light on it.  This moves the character up to a “soft” level cap of 30 (taking off the armor with “light” drops the character back down to 20).  But once you’ve gotten some “light infused” armor, you’re still not done.  At level 26, you have the option to do a super-hard mission called a Raid.  This raid (known as the The Vault of Glass) is ridiculously hard until you hit level “light” 28/29.  I’ve managed to finish this raid successfully a couple of weeks ago.  So essentially, Bungie set up a three tiered level system and it fed my inner OCD for levels just perfectly.

I might still be caught in Destiny’s web if not for On Spec, the Canadian Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazine.  They had a deadline of Oct. 31st for stories to be submitted to them.  In the time of Destiny’s release, I had finished I, Magi (yay!) and I wanted to submit it to them.  So, on Halloween night, when ALL I wanted to do was play Destiny, I edited my story and sent it out (with 44 minutes to spare before the deadline was up).  I realized that Destiny, while a great game and a great learning experience for creating good characters and a compelling world, was starting to get in the way of my writing, so I’ve consciously worked to mitigate the Destiny effect.  I’ve started writing rough drafts and I’m now back to working on my novel.

I’ll never fully kick the Destiny habit (nor do I want to–this game was MADE for me!), but I do need to find a way MODERATE its effect so that I too can be “Destined for Greatness!”  :)

WEEKLY WRITING UPDATE – 11/10

Currently Writing: The Great Game (Fantasy Short Story)

Currently Writing: Chapter 3 – Project Skye Novel (Chapter 3: Storm Breaking)

Rough Draft Finished: Project Djinn

Rough Draft Started: Project Roland

Knight of the Wylde West PUBLISHED!

My short story, Knight of the Wylde West was published by Port Yonder Press this week in a magazine called, Bonte Review.  Now this is a pre-issue (I guess to test the waters for publication, distribution, etc.) so it isn’t available for purchase.  Only contributors received copies.  However, it wasn’t a vanity publication.  It went through a real editor, who paid real money (thanks!) and asked for real changes to be made to the manuscript to make it a better story, and was published in a real paper magazine.

The story is a mash-up of genres–Western and Fantasy.  It is about an exiled Elven Gunslinger who must decide whether to save the daughter of the man who exiled him from the Elven nation.  It is a really neat story and I’m glad it got to see publication.  The editors even had artwork done for the story (I should mention that my story is the only one that had two pieces of artwork–the other stories only had one).  While the artwork doesn’t really match the images that I had in my head per se, they are still a good representation of what’s happening in the story.

Which leads me off to another tangent.  Along with just straight fiction, I’d always hoped to work on comic books and graphic novels, but outside of my first comic publication, I’ve not really done much in that arena.  Part of the problem is me: I’d seen a featurette on the LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) that talked about how the whole bridge of Khazad Dum sequence was built around the pre-artwork done for the Balrog sequence.  Without that artwork, there would have been no Khazad Dum sequence in the movie.  I really like that mode of working, being able to play off the artists work and being able to say yes this matches what we’re going for , but this doesn’t match, let’s change it to this . . . but what I need to do is just let the artist work.  I need to focus on creating the characters, story and plot and just let the artist draw–I’m not a director, I’m a writer and that’s my strength.  The other part of the problem is the industry.  It, like movies, has begun to be a closed system.  You wonder why there are no super-breakout comics like Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?  Its because it is much, much harder to shepherd a script (or artwork) into publication.  Unlike magazines and anthologies, trying to work through a non-superhero based comic is harder than ever.  Graphic novels are a little easier, but still, you won’t find a Duotrope-like site for publishers of Graphic novels, like would for fiction or novels.  All that seems be done on the internet now in the form of webcomics.  I think that I might try to advertise on my local college campus for artists and try again, but before I do, I need to do 2 things: 1) create and write the COMPLETE script, so I won’t be tempted to interfere with my artist and 2) identify a graphic novel publisher and target the work to them.  Even if they don’t want it, I’ll at least have a place to send it rather than just sitting on it.  But that’s probably a post for another time.

I’d probably be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Port Yonder Press and Bonte Review.  Click on their links if you want to know about them!  Until next time, see you later!

PS–Project Skye Update: currently about 50%-75% through Chap. 2 “Storm Warning.”