A change of pace; my life is over on Friday

So a few things: this is me officially saying Naught But Glass is on vacation until further notice. I'm considering leaving it for Brandon's class this year (which would start in January) and instead just focus on my current project.

Oh yeah, my current project! I'm switching some serious gears and going back to writing some YA. It's a sort of urban fantasy, but not...really? It's more like something I've been wanting to write for a while.

For example, in my "Misc Writing Ideas" folder (where I go to mine for crap sometimes when I have nothing to do), there is a .docx titled "Violin Death Girl" which only has one sentence: "Tiasa wove across the strings of her violin while Death looked on, enjoying the melody."

Despite that being kind of a crappy sentence, that's all that's in that file. It's actually inspired from some wallpaper picture that magically appeared in my wallpaper folder one day. Still don't know where this came from.

But it's COOL, so I kept it

Anyway, after a couple hours yesterday of me walking around in the cold and brainstorming (and generally clearing my head), I actually came up with a setting, plot, and a handful of characters. It's sort of an urban fantasy idea, for certain YA, and completely awesome.

I also wrote a 3k first chapter just to test the waters, and I'm really enjoying it. It's goofy and a bit dark (and I'm doing my damndest to not rip off Tarry Pratchett) and I think it'll be a fun warmdown write. I figure if I'm going to finish another book before this year ends it's going to need something I enjoy and can write quickly, and this fits the criteria.

We'll see what happens.

Though I'll REALLY just be doing THIS all weekend/forever:

SUCK IT, DRAGONS

Yep. Skyrim. My life is over.

Alloy of Law, Beard Slap, The Future

I attended the midnight release of Brandon Sanderson's latest novel, The Alloy of Law, which is a sort of wild-west/steampunk rendition of his Mistborn world. They actually sold out of copies, but I was ok with that because I was getting it on Kindle anyway. I still stood in line for three hours to see him and have him sign my Arc of The Way of Kings as well as all my Alcatraz books for my nieces and nephews, who are getting this for Christmas (hopefully they don't read this blog and spoil it). Brandon is fun as always, as is Isaac Stewart  (who does the art and is currently out selling his middle-grade clockwork spider book that sounds awesome). So good times were had by all.

Regardless, I'm excited for this one. Mistborn is my favorite book by Brandon, and mixing that with steampunk can't possibly go bad. So we'll see how this one works out. 

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And now, BEARD SLAP. 

Not really relevant to anything, except that I have a beard that kind of looks like that one. Or will in a few more months. It's gettin' bushy.

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On a less positive note, Naught But Glass is going "not" anywhere. I haven't written in it for the past couple of days, mostly because I've been entertained by Batman: Arkham City and QI (Quite Interesting), a British talkshow/gameshow hosted by Stephen Fry. I've also just been generally disgruntled with this novel, which is making me think I might give it a guilt-free break for a day or so while I write up a Steelgods synopsis and figure everything out for all the billions of people I'm going to be sending it too.

That's it from my front. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim comes out on Friday, which will officially be the death of my productivity. I'm considering taking this month off; I have some sort of NaNoWriMo stigma that makes it so I can't write in November anyway. We'll see.

Naught But Glass - "Not" feeling it yet

~tu5

I'm working on Naught But Glass, but currently I've been struggling with the story. Granted, it's only been three days and I've got a prologue and two chapters, but I still seem to be taking issue with it.

Perhaps it is that the story/book is daunting. Unlike the majority of my books, this one has very little "action" in it. It's a battle that is more inward, focusing more on the politics of a nation and the psychology of a group of former "heroes." While I'm fascinated by this, I'm worried that I'll be able to pull off the delicate details that keep this book both authentic and interesting. Plus, while politics and psychology certainly play an important role in just about any fantasy novel, they rarely are the main point (exception: A Game of Thrones). Often they accent these with battles or fights or other such action using swords and magic to keep the reader interested. Which is why this is going to be difficult.

In truth, I feel like I did when I started Effulgent Corruption last July (and then abandoned it). It was as if it was something that was far too ambitious for me at the time, so I wrote Steelgods and plotted/edited a considerable amount before coming back to it.

I don't want to do this with Naught But Glass, mostly because I need to have finished a third book this year. So I will press onward, even if it proves difficult.

Aside from that, discovery writing has given me a hand: I thought of several good character quirks that fit well with both the characters themselves, the overarching plot, and the magic system. I almost never plan character specific oddities beforehand (I have a general idea of how they react to situations and what their personalities are, but eccentricities are saved for discovery writing) so when things like this come together it's both exciting and delightful. I also like to think it makes appear smarter than I am, but that's up for debate.

And, as expected, I tend to throw my first 2-3 chapters out anyway, for the very reason mentioned above (I don't understand the characters enough yet). So I really just need to brute force my way through this until I "find" my characters, and then things will be just peachy.

This isn't a very exciting blog post, but that's life. My Twitter is constantly being assaulted by NaNoWriMi stuff. Yay?

Keep writing!

NaNoWriMo, Naught but Glass

So it's NaNoWriMo again, and we all know how I feel about that. My opinion regarding it hasn't changed, but yet again I feel oddly compelled to participate.

So I'm doin' it. Hopefully better than last year, where I did it for like a day and fell off the planet.

But as a specification: I'm not actually doing NaNoWriMo, I'm just using it as an excuse to start my book today. I'm going to keep writing until I finish it regardless of what month I'm in, and hopefully I'll finish it before the world ends in 2012 so I'll have accomplished my goal of three books in one year.

In other news, I've been preparing my queries and also am working on both a synopsis and polishing the first chunk of Steelgods 1 to perfection. I'm hoping to start sending those out by next week.

And now...my favorite episode of "Hey Ashe, Whatcha Playing?" Also, I now say "I'm doin' it" in the same way Ash does in this show because...it's fun. Hush.

Get More: GameTrailers.com, HAWP - Fallout: New Vegas HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

BONUS: We'll throw the minecraft episode on for fun.

Get More: GameTrailers.com, HAWP - Minecraft HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

World Fantasy and Pitching

So I've been weirdly quiet about this for...I don't know why, but I am indeed going to the World Fantasy convention in San Diego this year with Jason, and we are leaving tomorrow morning. I'm very excited to make contact again with a lot of the people I met at WorldCON, as well as hopefully meet a few new faces. Last year was a good bit of fun, even though we only talked to a few people, and I'm certain this year will be even better.

I even bought a silver sharpie so I can have freaking Neil Gaiman sign my Kindle. So that means I'm serious about this, guys. 

I'm certain most people who read this blog know what World Fantasy is, but if you don't the general gist is it's a convention of authors, agents, and editors that meet together to find new talent, enjoy each other's company, and shoot the breeze. You won't find people in costume (last year's it went over Halloween and even then I only saw one or two costumes) like at WorldCON, and it is a much smaller convention, but it's still a lot of fun.

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So in preparation for World Fantasy I've been working on pitches. There's a great Writing Excuses episode on pitches that just recently came out, and I've been using that for reference. To put it basically, you have three pitches you need:

- An elevator pitch (a sentence, quick blurb)

- A slightly longer pitch (two or three paragraphs, just a quick summery or "movie trailer")

- A long pitch that goes into the most detail

Now, I never really thought much about pitching. I always figured that, should the need arise, I'd be able to just spurt something out. However, when I was talking with my wife on the car ride home and failing completely and utterly at even a sentence pitch, I decided I should probably actually work on this.

And I found some good and bad things. 

The good thing is that the sentence/elevator pitch was actually pretty easy. It took about ten minutes at most, and I never really did any substantial changes to it minus a few word choices. 

The bad thing is the two paragraph one is killing me. 

For some reason, this is really tough. Trying to find a focus with slightly more space, while still making something that is both compelling and easy to say is...difficult. It already has gone through more revisions than the actual book has, and I'm still not satisfied. 

I'm not even going to touch the long pitch. I'm going to assume (hopefully not incorrectly, like before) that I'm able to talk about my book for a decent amount of time without failing to hard. 

So now I just need some agents and editors to test this on. Hmmm....

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A quick Naught but Glass update: I have yet to start the novel, though I've gotten a good bit of planning done. I also don't have any names yet, which is probably a bad thing (my design document has "the Hero," "the Sidekick," and "the King" in lieu of actual names). I'm hoping to start it tomorrow night before World Fantasy, however. 

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Lastly, I'm finally getting to read some of the indie novels I picked up on Kindle (after I finish Hogfather by Terry Pratchett). So expect reviews of The Wars of Gods and Men by Brondt Kamffer and The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III once I finish them. As always, you can track my progress on Goodreads. So far: both books are excellent, and most certainly worth the asking price (Wars of Gods and Men is only $1, and The Black God's War is on sale this week for $2)

That's it from me. Expect a World Fantasy report one of these years (about the time my WorldCON post comes up. Yeah, that turned out real good).

Hollywood Formula, Titles, Next Novel

First off, I'd like to drop a plug (again) for Writing Excuses. If you are an author, you should be listening to every episode of this when they come out on Sunday. All the panelists are extremely knowledgable regarding the publishing industry, writing, and nearly every combination of those two you could imagine. They also do well in getting excellent guests that provide even more insight into writing and how to best approach, write, and sell your story. Plus, they've been nominated for a Hugo several times, which means it's quality.

I wanted to make this plug because an episode three weeks ago, The Hollywood Formula, is probably one of the most interesting Writing Excuses episodes yet. Basically Lou Anders from Pyr books does an excellent job in breaking down the basic formula used by Hollywood to pack their stories with an emotional punch. Basically, it's a system that has been found to best resonate with viewers in terms of characters, plots, and pacing. Most movies in Hollywood follow this formula to a degree, but it's main focus is that every story has a protagonist, an antagonist, and a relationship character. These three play off each other throughout the various acts in a certain formula in nearly every Hollywood film.

Point being: it was extremely interesting, but it also made me take a look back on my books to try to figure out who was who (or if the books even had these characters or followed the formula). The general idea is that the protagonist has a goal, and the antagonist (who is not necessarily the "bad guy") plays against these goals.

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Humoring my own work for a second, I took a look at Steelgods 1, mostly because it was fresh on my mind. The protagonist was easy: Cevan, our viewpoint. But who was the antagonist?

(note: possible Steelgods 1 spoilers)

Well, Cevan's ultimate goal in Steelgods (and the entire series) can be summed up that he wants to live a normal life. The whole "Destroyer of the World" thing, having to always run away, the troubles with his family; he just wants it all gone and back to how it was before this all exploded. So who is the one ruining this goal?

Well, the book starts with the Peacemakers (the jerks saying Cevan is the Destroyer and hunting him down) kidnapping Devent and Rosemary, Cevan's step-siblings, and holding them ransom for Cevan's life. Cevan ends up training in a secluded town with a smithgirl named April, leaving her and getting into all sorts of trouble before confronting the Peacemaker in an attempt to save his family. Then a bunch of other stuff happens which I won't say because I don't want to go that deep into spoilers.

The thing is, when I tore this book apart, I began to realize something: the Peacemaker might not actually be the antagonist. It's true he is hindering Cevan's goal, but if you really boiled it down, the real ones who are keeping Cevan from having a normal life are Devent and Rosemary. They refuse to let him settle down, even when all three of them are given the offer at the end of the book. Because they are insistant on carting him around they end up getting captured, which also messes up the good thing he had going with April. While they are trying to keep him alive, they are basically thwarting his direct goals. Devent and Rosemary could be the antagonists in Steelgods 1.

This is further accented by the fact they are most assuredly the antagonists in Steelgods 2, but that's a different story altogether (literally).

So who is the relationship character? This is the one that is with the hero the whole time, who helps slowly persuade him/her towards a sort of final conclusion.

My first guess was April, even though Cevan leaves her, because she stays on his mind. But as I thought about it, I realized it could perhaps also be the Peacemaker (either the individual or the group as a whole). They force him to realize who he is, which is something he fights against the entire series. And at the end of the book, Cevan comes to that realization (at least to a better extent than he had at the very beginning). Maybe April and the Peacemaker are some sort of joint relationship character, tag-teaming. Who knows.

Enough self indulgence, but I found that interesting.

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With that in mind, I actually structured the general ideas regarding my characters for my next dark fantasy project (which finally has a title) on this three character formula. And, when I did this, I came to a realization: the person I thought was the protagonist was actually very much the relationship character, and the relationship character is the protagonist! It was actually pretty shocking for me, but it fits regarding the plot I had considered. This formula also helped me iron out a good number of details I still had in limbo regarding this plot, which is good.

Oh, and I also got a title for it (woo woo), finally. Book #8 will be...

Naught but Glass


Cool title, right? Yes? No? Well, I like it. It fits what happens, and so we'll take it.

I also realized this book is extremely political. It's a good deal different than any of my previous books (though it might be more in like with Where Gods and Mortals Dance; both have very little magic and focus primarily on political conflicts), especially considering this is my first book ever where the deities don't directly have any influence on the story. Yes, I'm finally going to actually attempt writing a book where some god doesn't play a major role in everything. Granted, I thought Effulgent Corruption was going to be that way (I even killed the stupid gods so they wouldn't show up) and the jerks somehow managed to creep their way back into the story.

I'm also going to try my damnedest to make sure this book stays short; I'm shooting for between 100-150k at the most. The good part about this it it means I might actually finish it before the year ends. The bad news is...I'm going to have to try really hard to keep it short.

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Aside from that, I'm currently plotting the basics, re-reading Steelgods 1 and hopefully submitting it soon, getting ready to attend World Fantasy in San Diego, and working. So here's hoping everything turns out for the best.

That's all from me.