Building the New, Part One: The Plan
Because I don't have enough to do, I'm redrafting things there. I don't want to that statement to come as a whine because "having too much to do" is a delightful side effect of the active writing brain; it's just that too much to do means that things happen slowly because one's time is so disperse across these many activities. This website, for one. So, here's the plan and I'm only telling you so that -- if you like -- you can keep abreast of how and where things are going.
Most of everything will stay right here, but will get different clothes. The journal, however, is heading to LiveJournal. In fact, it's already there. Monkey Comes Down From The Mountain is where the daily minutia will now be marked. Me, and the thousands of others who detail the small events of our lives. LiveJournal allows me to more easily participate in the round about with some others who I want to stay in close contact with so it only made sense to go play in that pool. This journal will be clearly linked from here so you don't need to remember how to find it.
This blog (there are five running on markteppo.com) will turn into a straight research log with commentary about that research. Travis (opi8 editor guy) coined a reference a while back which will probably become the guiding intent of the research blog: the "paranoid bunny magus." So, if any of those three words (or the combination thereof) strike you as interesting, then there will be things to entertain you there.
The writing, music review and photo logs will stay, though the writing log will focus more on actual creative work as the research bits will fall here. And our recording of Solomon's growth will stay right where it is. I know that you're all just here for pictures of my kid anyway.
So, that's the plan. It'll take a little while for it to all fall out and things may just a bit dusty and unorganized in the process. Please bear with me. The end result will be more streamlined and focused and less like the efforts of someone who just figured out [div] tags work and loves all the colors he can get out of Photoshop. (This is the problem with using the real cheap labor I can get my hands on.)
Catching Up
It's all Jason Lundberg's fault. At least, that's the excuse I'm sticking to today.
It's been a busy few days and I've gotten off track slightly. We went to Blaine over the weekend for a wedding and our (gasp!) first night away from Solomon since he was born. We've both been individually away overnight, but this was the first time we were both out of sight. The little dude survived (Grandparents were in town for his sleepover) and we managed to not freak out completely while we were gone.
No writing over the weekend though. I needed a break from the laptop and it was nice to not think about a damn thing other than hanging out with my wife for 48 hours. De-fucking-lightful. However, things (as they do) pile up. I'm behind on Ex Loc stories and (this is the part where Lundberg gets blamed) I have to admit that "Favonian" was kind of spontaneously eructated. Just to get it done. It's a cheap knockoff of the opening paragraph of "Chance Island". I didn't know "favonian" a few weeks ago or I would have used it there. So, yeah, call this a homage to the beginning of that story. I had really meant to do something with Mistral, but -- as always -- the words get away.
Speaking of things getting out of hand, I should be working on a rewrite of "MNSF" this week, but "TDTAD" wanted to be written. 7000 words that couldn't just wait in line. Bastards. Each and every one of them.
"M:EULA" -- "Memory: The End User License Agreement" -- went into the mail yesterday. I'm officially back in circulation. It's been way too long.
The Mystery of Short Titles
Finished up the latest draft of "M:EULA" this morning and will probably send it out in the next day or so. My first short story submission in about a year. This is the dull and meandering part of the gig: keeping the stories in the mail. I was never very good at it before; I kept looking them over when they came back in and my internal editor -- damn critical beast! -- kept hiding them from me and not allowing them to continue circulation. It's funny how much we second-guess our darlings sometimes. Though I feel much better about letting these children out into the wild than I did previously. That's what a little perspective gives you, I guess.
I've got a couple of reviews that need doing as well as a second draft of "MNSF." Technically, since I finished the first draft on that last week, I'm still short a story this week but I might let it slide and just work on this piece instead of trying to wrap my brain around something else. "MNSF" is going to need a bit of research to finish properly and, as we're out of town this weekend, it's going to be tough to get what I need onto the page.
Chapter 22 of the BOOK OF LIES is hanging there, patiently waiting for me to come back to it. I'm about to transition to the next section and I need to do some thinking on it so I'll probably let that continue to twist in the wind for the rest of the week.
I need to get back to "Instrument." I ran it through the Strange Horizons workshop and got enough positive comments on its potential as a novella (instead of trying to flesh it out to full book length) that I'd like to wrap that up and send it off in search of a home. One of the ideas that came out of the workshop was to do a series of linked pieces, a couple of novellas and short stories that could then be collected as a full book, a Maupin style Tales of Empire City. Detective Landres, a very bit player in "Instrument," told me last night that he wants to be the main character in "T,CSBY."
Sorry, don't mean to be so oblique about titles. A good title will do a lot to get you past the gatekeepers and, when a story isn't finished yet, I'm not so terribly keen on releasing the names of pieces into the wild. It's a poker face thing, I guess. But, at the same time, I don't want to reference stuff I'm working on SO obliquely that it comes out as "this story" and "that story." Even I'll be confused after a week.
Fiddling Where No Good Can Come Of It
Started fiddling with the website design tonight. Like I don't have enough to do that I've got to muck with this. Yeah, well, I'm just not competely happy with it. There are some aspects of it that I'm not entirely pleased with and, with the possible switch of how I'm journaling (versus research blogging and running writing stuff here), I might have to figure out a new way of displaying information. I still want this site to be the general clearinghouse for my work, but I might have to tweak things slightly to facilitate broader discussions and to cut down on the spam comments which continue to crop up.
Yeah, should have been working on a rewrite of last week's story. Had some nice observations from first readers today which have given me a bit to think about. Me and the red pen are going to get serious tonight. In the meantime, though, fiddling.
No burning of Rome yet, though.
Ex Loc
It's been a busy week on the word front since I returned from the writer's workshop in Oregon. Lots of ideas have been floating about my head while I been trying to get back to the "routine." Wrote the first draft of two stories this week and spent most of today (when I wasn't playing with Solomon) working on the kinks of the first one and have probably overworked it. I've also realized why the second one doesn't work at its current length and what I'll need to do to make it work (cut about 1500 words and completely rewrite 75% of what is left). I've got two old stories that might actually be salvageable: one will become an Empire City story which will solve some of its problems and the other is a really old piece which I never tried to do anything with of a core detail which would have -- I always thought -- made it unsellable. Turns out I might be wrong.
Jay Lake has a cool writing exercise that he does to keep his fingers active: Story Word. People submit words to him and he, in return, generates very short fiction around the word. There's a new one every day and he works hard to make sure that his word junkies don't miss their fix.
I don't need another intensive deadline like that around here, but the idea of doing a very short piece to keep the writing muscles flexed isn't a bad one. I'm also dealing with a reoccurring word echo problem that I have in my writing. It's partly due to having a smooth brain without enough ridges, so these will be useful to me in expanding my vocabulary as well as giving me a chance to just try some stylistic things. So, they'll start showing up here in the writing section. The goal will be do one on days when I haven't gotten any other writing done or, as in the case of yesterday, when most of the writing was done in editing mode. They'll be archived in the writing section as either "Ex Loc" (extemporaneous locution) or "Nudis Verbis" ('in naked words') since "Story Word" has been so cleverly taken.
The first one is called "Excoriate."
I am, of course, receptive to any word you think I should know how to use.
Hello, Santa? Here's What I Want For Christmas
Slated for release on April 22, 2005 is the Godzilla Final Box, a collected archive of all 27 Godzilla films (with room for Godzilla: Final Wars) as well as three discs of previously unavailable material. The case will covered in a painted latex Godzilla skin.
"Godzilla (1954)" (catalogue number: TDV-2593D)
"Godzilla Raids Again (Godzilla's Counter Attack )" (TDV-2624D)
"King Kong vs. Godzilla" (TDV-2599D)
"Mothra vs. Godzilla" (TDV-2712D)
"Sandaikaiju Chikyu Saidai no Kessen" (TDV-2631D)
"Kaiju Daisenso (Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero)" (TDV-2716D)
"Godzilla, Ebirah Mothra: Nankai no Daiketto" (TDV-2720D)
"Kaijutou no Kessen Godzilla no Musuko (Son of Godzilla)" (TDV-2725D)
"Kaiju Soshingeki (Destroy All Monsters Operation Monsterland)" (TDV-2729D)
"Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara - All Kaiju Daishingeki (Godzilla's Revenge)" (TDV-2785D)
"Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster)" (TDV-2791D)
"Godzilla vs. Gigan (aka Godzilla on Monster Island)" (TDV-2849D)
"Godzilla vs. Megalon" (TDV-2860D)
"Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (TDV-2695D)
"Mechagodzilla no Gyakushu (Meghagodzilla Raids Again)" (TDV-2696D)
"Godzilla (1984)" (TDV-2645D)
"Godzilla vs. Biollante" (TDV-2654D)
"Godzilla vs. King Ghidra" (TDV-2639D)
"Godzilla vs. Mothra" (TDV-2641D)
"Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993)" (TDV-2656D)
"Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla" (TDV-2658D)
"Godzilla vs Destoroyah (Godzilla vs. Destroyer 1995)" (TDV-2660D)
"GODZILLA 2000 Millennium" (TDV-2582D)
"Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy" (TDV-2609D)
"Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (Daikaiju Sokogeki)" (TDV-2659D)
"Godzilla x Mechagodzilla (2002)" (TDV-2723D)
"Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." (TDV-2864D).
The three bonus discs are: "Godzilla King of the Monsters! (Kaijuou Godzilla)," "SF Kaiju Synth Sound Godzilla Densetsu" and "SF Kokyo Fantasy - Godzilla Fantasy."
http://www.toho-a-park.com/video/godzilla/index.html
Please, Santa? I've been good this year. Pre-orders must be in place before November 4th, so ask the Elves to fill my Christmas Wish early this year, will you?
Short Work
I finished a short story on the way home tonight. It's no big deal for some, but it's the first new piece of non-novel fiction that I've done in over eighteen months and the first actual short story in years. I blame all the positive reinforcement from the attendees and instructors at the Strange Horizons Workshop.
The little stack of pages is sitting on the other end of the dining room table from me. I've got a bit of research to do to fix some sloppy parts (lack of an Internet connection on the train and all) and some vocabulary to brighten up, but overall it reads pretty well.
The idea for this piece occured to me while getting coffee yesterday morning (was it only yesterday?). Today I've got 2600 words and a pretty solid outline for a follow-up story should this one find a home. That's how it works, I guess.
Oh, yeah, and I wrote nearly 7000 words on the novel over the weekend. I got to bring some of the dangling plot elements together finally. The introductory mystery has been illuminated -- they haven't solved it yet, but they know how it happened -- and The Speaker has finally shown up.
It's a fun day to be in my head.
Strange Horizons Report
I spent the weekend at Rockaway Beach, Oregon, attending the Strange Horizons Writer's Workshop. Eight of us collected at the Oregon Colony Writer's House for three days of writing, critiquing and craft discussion. The house (very lovingly described by fellow workshop attendee Jason Lundberg here) was just out of spitting distance from the beach, and was squarely set on the border of the Land of No Distractions (if you didn't count the Pacific Ocean to the west or the glittering lake to the east). No phone, no television, no Internet: in short, perfect for a getaway.
(Finding cellphone service so that I could check in with Melissa and Solomon once a day turned into a game. I could get two bars of service on the beach. Never at the same spot and only in a physical space not much larger than three square feet. It usually only lasted long enough to either leave or get voicemail but not so long that I could do both.)
The workshop was hosted by Jay Lake and Mary Anne Mohanraj, two very delightful individuals who brought with them a wealth of information from both the writing and the editorial camps. They took good care of us, making sure we were fed (Mary Anne's lasagna was a delight both hot and cold and people almost came to blows over Jay's heart attack mini bagel sandwiches), and enabling really great discussions about craft. We also spent a solid amount of time giving and receiving commentary on pieces that we had brought.
It was a phenomenal experience and I'm still quite giddy with a lot of the practical information that was offered during the weekend as well as the levels of enthusiasm which everyone brought with them. The assembled level of passion for writing rejuvenated everyone, expanding and recharging our internal batteries. You need trips like this once or twice a year to get your battery pack reconditioned.
Like I do when I go to new places, I took a lot of pictures. The best of the lot are here.
I'm also 1200 words into a short story today. Yeah, me, who was thinking that he was done with short fiction. See? This is what happens when you hang out with the other kids who are doing this. You remember how much fun it was.
Man, am I glad I didn't overthink the moment when I decided to apply for this workshop.
Geordie Is Way Cool
In much the same way that Jesus is in the King Missile song. My cousin, Geordie The Park Ranger, is now Geordie Romer, Real Estate Agent. It's not quite the same cool as being a Ranger, but he's off in the hinterland selling back woods acreage to folk who want to get away from it all. Though, he'd probably spin it differently than that (and, you know, actually tell you that the region is based around Leavenworth, Washington). Anyway, we -- being terribly city-bound -- think cousin Geordie is the shit. And we're doing our part to help his Google ranking by pointing you all to him. Geordie Romer's web site.
He also promises to teach Solomon how to survive in the woods and make fire from a twig and a rock -- two skills which Dad has no hope of ever mastering -- so I'm glad someone is going to watch out for the little dude.
[You owe me lunch, G, if anyone finds you because of this link and buys a spot of property.]
Darkline
I got an inquiry asking about the status of darkline.com, my other domain. I have always had plans for that domain, intending it to be a place where I could deliver strange missives and odd little stories to the Internet and just never had enough material lined up to make it something that would have a life of its own. It's somewhat silly to start something and never really get enough content out on it to make it something that people would come back to regularly.
This all comes back around to the serial fiction thing. If you're going to run a serial story, you'd better have enough backlog to make sure that you don't run out. Especially when life kicks you in the nutsack and diverts you for a few weeks, months, years. I still want to do something about monsters, some old-fashioned Cthulhu-inspired hommage to Lovecraft turn of the millenium thing.
[sigh]
So, yeah, time. It's all about the time. Someday.
[That's the deal, Mark C., in case you are still wondering.]
Wandering Outlaw
On one of the front pages of Stephen King's Song of Susannah, there is a list of his books. The interesting bit is that Dark-Tower related tomes are now listed in bold. Some of them are more obviously linked into the Roland mythology than others and, with the current direction that the Dark Tower series is taking, the connective tissue on the others may become more evident once King rambles to his final conclusion. I'm not entirely convinced that The Stand was a Dark Tower book when King first wrote it, but when Roland's ka-tet wandered through that world in Wizard and Glass, a thread that may have been in the back of King's head for years was made more evident. Though, Flagg is pretty synonymous with the Man in Black when you get right down to it.
I'm still not over my diappointment with the end of The Wolves of the Calla. The intrusion of our world's pop culture into the symbolic -- and literal -- space of King's Mid World was annoying and threatened to turn the delightfully rich world King had created into nothing more than a series of in-jokes that would only have relevance to modern children, thereby destroying the mythic and timeliness of his work. While it was okay that King turned his entire oeuvre into a circular structure, the intrusion of Harry Potter and Star Wars drove me to book throwing.
However, I'm back for Song of Susannah only because it isn't six million pages long. And, if he's going to piss me off again, at least I won't have slogged through all gazillion pages. Kind of a masochistic relationship I've got here. But, part of the reason that I'm back is that I remembered one of the key lines from "Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage" which King has said that the Dark Tower series is based on. "A wandering outlaw of his own dark mind." If I'm right, then he's had this ending planned for almost thirty years.
And when I'm thinking about the whole idea of serial fiction and about spending a couple of decades finishing a complete work, this becomes too tantalizing not to follow through to its end.