Sequel woes

How come everything I plan for a Children of Fire sequel just ends up being a short story? I have: Shadow Chaser (formerly Elemental), featuring Nick kidnapping Sarah and another guy kidnapping Rachel, for different reasons: controlling a sorceress, for one. Storm Scion features Jarred having repeating nightmares, finding that it’s magical in nature and going off to confront the mage responsible. The first is around 6000 words, and the second I doubt would be much longer. Lord of Flames is already a roughly a quarter through what I had down in the planning stage, at about 4000 words. x4 is 16000, and that’s 8000 shorter than Children of Fire, which is currently 24000 – about half of what NaNoWriMo considers a novel and waaaay short of what Jaffa Books, the publisher I’m with, considers novel length (60000).

So in the vein of making some of these into more proper-novel-length pieces, today I played around with combining Shadow Chaser with Lord of Flames. The result is a much longer plot, with the former occurring within the latter. At this plotting stage, I think it’s a good idea. It seems to work; I just had to change a few small details to reflect some joining issues. All I need now is a suitable ending. That shouldn’t be a problem, I just need to mull it over a bit.

So far, I’m happy with this direction and I think it would be better this way. I wonder what other people think. Maybe I’ll post the plot outline once it’s finished. Until then I’m scratching my head over an ending.

On a positive note, yesterday I went to a doctor’s appointment, Suncorp and Centrelink, and each only took like 15 minutes. And I have money again. So woot.

L.E.A.D.

I was just discussing names for a mercenary group who settle down and decide to teach children all sorts of useful skills for the real world, instead of say, Shakespeare. One idea we came up with was L.E.A.D, and then we had to come up with what that stands for.

They said Lead Educational Attendant Directors, which is okay, but I think I like mine better: Lead Educational Assault and Destroy. Or, maybe Lead Educational Advisory Destroyers might work.

Ah, this is the part of writing that’s some of the most fun.

Don’t write what you ‘know’

“What what you know.” Yeah, right. I’ve heard that 10,000x. And you know what? I don’t really know that much about a lot of things. Should I be out there experiencing everything? Or should I be writing? I like to write about what I want to write about. That’s it. So my advice then–which I found in someone else’s advice just now, so obviously we have the same idea–is to write what I like. It’s that simple. Sure, I know a lot about what I like to write about (in most cases – the exception probably being anything high-concept hard sci fi) but my life is boring, so I write to escape from it, to have some excitement and to give it to other people who need it. It’s called entertaining, and there’s no shame in being an entertainer, I think anyway.

So go on. Write what you want to write. Read what you want to read. Hell, write what you want to read. Go on. Do it. You know you want to.

http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/

A non-professional update

To all two people watching my blog…

I’ve been quite absorbed in my Uni work lately. Like, barely able to do much else absorbed. Now, granted I’m only part time, but still. It feels like all I’m doing is Uni work. I’ve gotten just a taste of what it’s like for full timers.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of what’s happened since last blog.

First, and most recently, I’ve gotten Children of Fire chapter one, and the prologue, critiqued. Twice. They loved the style and the action scenes were my strongest point. I’ll be putting this up on the uni forum for *another* critique. Hey, might as well use everything I can.

Interestingly enough, I probably don’t need my lecturer/tutor’s commentary on the direction of the novel, partly because finding your own way and discovering the story yourself is one of the most rewarding parts of writing, but mostly, because I’ve been doing it for two consecutive NaNoWriMo’s and started again with a rewritten synopsis after that. Besides, I’ve got the Vision writer’s group, members of Melanie’s group such as Jordan, and the Brisbane Sci Fi and Fantasy Group to discuss the story with. I’ve gotten onto a real roll with this idea, really starting to polish it properly now too. It’s coming together nicely, this synopsis, and the writing ain’t bad either.

I’ve also been reading a book on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for my depression and anger issues, not to mention my sheer pessimism. Going from perfectly happy teen to miserable Bernard Black type in the matter of months was not fun. Staying that way through all of my ‘prime’ years is even funner. Someone at the critique group said I had a vacant expression. I was just thinking. Lots of things were going through my head on sunday. That’s all. That, and I don’t show any expressions. Ever. I’m like J. M. Coetzee: someone lived with him for 10 years and saw him smile ONCE. That exemplifies his monkish dedication to his work, and my kind of seriousness.

I have found time to go out though; it hasn’t been ALL work. I’ve been to a unique little bar in the valley (hiss!) called the Mana Bar. Mana, as anyone who’s played just about any RPG knows, is your magic bar. Yes, that’s right… they’ve created a bar for gamers, and not the pokies, which is for old losers who use two at a time and hog it for everyone. But I don’t go into that part of the local tavern, because I’d rather live music than the repetitive drone of pokie machines pretending to sound like coins to lure you in and suck away at your soul.

Ahem!

The Mana Bar is an amazing new idea – an inner-city nightclub-district video game bar, where there’s games, alcohol and, most shocking (in the best way), girls! Ok sure, I knew there were gamer girls in Brisbane. Somewhere. I just didn’t know they actually came in cute varieties like some guys’ gamer girlfriends (we learned about alliteration today) or in adorable, blonde, cute, zombie-killing, caped crusader loving Batman fangirls with an automatic weapon in their hand 90% of the time. You know, this is the first I’ve actually admitted it, but I think I have a crush on this particular bartender. I mean, I don’t really know her, so it’s kind of premature and ethereal. But the beginnings of the worst of my feelings is definitely there. Expect to hear a tale like that of the Exemplification Of The Worst Of My Luck, aka the Coffee Shop Girl.

This is all on the heels of a Respiratory Tract Infection. THAT was a fun two weeks! Not only did I cough constantly, I also got headaches and felt like the room was spinning. I had to call for a lift to the blood test people and then to the xray place because there was no way I could catch the bus and walk the two or three miles down the road in my condition. Nor could I go anywhere near a guy I know from church who has lukemia or something like that – he’s in a wheelchair and is all bone – and he had a near-death experience last time he caught a cold. No way was I going to be responsible for that. Sure, I didn’t have to do bible study (I know half the good book, and what I know I know backwards, or at least did 10 years ago) but it also meant I couldn’t socialise. The WORST part though? Besides 6 types of medication ON TOP OF my antidepressants and sleeping pills?

No.

Alcohol.

Two weeks, sick and sober. And unable to do critiques at a decent pace, nor to make it to Uni to hand them in. I was sick, and I managed to post the critiques of my classmates memoirs, but not one of the bastards posted anything for me. Thanks guys.

So that’s how life’s been for me. There’s been writing, gaming and sickness. There’s been social stuff, but only in limited capacity between working on assignments and coughing up phlemn. And I think I’ve covered everything there.