Systems Update: Drafting
The constructor fleet moves off, having completed their task. The new bypass will be completed by another fleet later on, and that team will have to deal with the lack of planning of the whole project. Yes, the papers were filed but by a solitary clerk who no one listened to and who had a penchant for making small changes. Looked at in aggregate, the changes will spell out their name. A small joke that results in the inconvenience of billions over time. That one, they’ll say when their joke is discovered, that one is a piece of work. Wish I’d thought of it.
Hello from the hills of Eastern Kansas. I’m Jason and I write stories you might like to read.
ORGAN OF RECORD: MASQUEI’m deep into the third draft/revision of MASQUE and this book keeps getting stronger. I’ve changed my process here a bit (which I think I’ve written about before) and at the end of each draft I’ve reread the work and summarized each section of each chapter so I can see the plot more clearly. In the case of first to second it not only helpful, but essential that I’d done this. Rereading and summarizing the second draft showed where the plot still dragged, where things had been mentioned and then forgotten, and the overall arcs of the main and supporting characters. As I’m typing this, I’m thinking about leaving this and getting back to building on the book.
And it’s become a novel. This story is based off a short story in my A MAP OF THE PROBLEM (which was once two short stories but combined for that publication) which I intended as a novella. Draft 1 was around 44,000 words. Draft 2 came in at 65,000 words and I suspect the third draft will be slightly more than that, possibly 70,000 words or more. So now it’s a novel.
The other thing that I’m doing with this is leaving myself big notes that I realize are big notes and not an attempt at overexpositioning (not sure that’s a word but what the hell) since the story is told first person. In this draft I’m breaking those notes down into scenes or sentences to get the ideas across. This stems from feedback I got on an early draft of THE ENVOY and which the reader debated whether or not to tell me they checked out when I ran a way-too-long bit of exposition in the middle. I’d rather hear what makes you check out of one of my stories at that stage than you trying to save my feelings. Even if I think you’re wrong (they weren’t) I still want to know what affects you about the story.
So this book is taking longer than I wanted but it’s happening and will be released I hope in the fall. I’ll also include pronunciation guides because that’s feedback I’ve gotten now, too.
Oh, and I should mention here that all my self-pubbed books will be available more widely once I get to the beta-reading process where I can focus on other things. Right now I’m so into telling this story the best I can that I’m not working on anything else. The day job is taking too much brainspace.
THE VOICE IN THE BOXIt’s been a while now since broadcaster Bob Edwards passed. It’s been longer that his wonderful hour-long interview program The Bob Edwards Show was on XM and I got to hear terrific conversations with really interesting people, some who I’d heard of and many I hadn’t.
But it was his NPR tenure that I miss the most. I listened to Bob on NPR every morning for years and years. His warm baritone was comforting and his easy manner with guests was so different even from his heroes like Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, or Walter Cronkite. I trusted that he was telling me the truth, that he was asking questions I needed answers to. His was the voice that gave me hope on 9/11 that this wasn’t the beginning of World War III.
His book, The Voice in the Box, is the memoir that we get where he leans into being summarily dismissed from NPR but doesn’t seem to want to tell us what all he’d heard as to why. It’s strange to read this kind of book from a journalist who doesn’t explore a topic fully but it kind of makes sense in retrospect. He was obviously hurt by the firing though he went on to make even better radio elsewhere. Until the suits again decided it wasn’t worth it.
The lesson, as I take it, is to keep as much control for yourself and do the job as you understand it. When someone asks for an explanation, don’t hold back as to the importance of what you’re doing, but don’t beg for their understanding, either. Money does what money does because money wants to make more money.
Tributes from colleague Scott Simon, and this appreciation from the Morning Edition team capture some of what I felt for someone I knew only a little. Did I mention that he and I corresponded briefly via email back in the day? He was on the radio in an issue of Fantastic Four that Chris Claremont wrote decades ago now. He told the story of how Neal Conan and other NPR staffers ended up in various issues of things Claremont wrote and asked if I could send him a copy of the FF issue in question, which I did.
Bob was a cool guy.
A Very Brief AsideDo you like to hear people read things? I’ve started an online store that’ll have various things and other stuff. Thanks for looking.
Hey, here’s where I get to say that if you type your email in the box below, you can get future posts, very infrequently because I’d rather be writing than blogging, delivered to your inbox. I hope you’ll consider it but it’s okay if you don’t.
TOWEL DAYEvery year on May 25th, we celebrate the publication of Douglas Adams’ seminal comedic science fiction by knowing where our towels are. I’ve listened to, read, and watched as many version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as I can and it never fails to make laugh and think at the same time.
It was Maria, the punk girl with spiky black hair, a pierced nose, and pink eye shadow, who told Mom that I would love the book. I don’t remember where I got a copy from but I know I read it in paperback and absolutely fell in love with it. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe might have been out at that point, too, and I devoured it as soon as I could get a copy. Hearing the radio play was a joy and when it gets to the part where the two books combined in the narrative, I was never not going to love Douglas Adams’s work. Maria, here’s to you. Thank you for turning me on to some really great art.
Since I don’t write comedy, I greatly appreciate it in others. I was already a hardcore Monty Python fan and Robin Williams’ standup bits had been memorized so that I could amuse myself and others at the drop of a hat. But the terribly mislabeled Hitchhiker’s trilogy will always be a staple in my life. I missed getting this post up on Towel Day, but that’s because my calendar was not turned to the proper month and obviously my notifications on my phone had been tampered with somehow.
AT CAPACITYI mentioned above that the day job was taking up a lot of brainspace. It’s true that I have more work on my plate than at almost any other point in my career, and I’m writing a novel and planning two follow-ups but I’ve never been happier. There’s very little stress around any of this because there’s a ton of support at work and at home. Having people who give a damn makes a great deal of difference when you’re approaching a mountainous to-do list.
I hope you have that in your life, too. It seems to be true that success comes from never quite giving up, never quitting, but also remaining true to the vision and mission of what you’re working toward. Keep being creative, friends, keep making the little changes that allow you the freedom you need to actually feel free to do what you want. Ever onward, always forward. Never give up, never surrender.
I’ll see you when I see you.
Subscribe?This is the end of the post, but I’ll remind you that if you type your email in the box below, you can get future posts, very infrequently because I’d rather be writing than blogging, delivered to your inbox. No pressure. I don’t want you to miss when MASQUE drops this fall is why I’m bringing it up again.
