Excepting Ash Wednesday, when I was re-reading old material for new ideas, my goal was 1,000 words per day, average. Today I’m at 8,217. Better news: it just may be that the plot is showing up! A fringe character’s older brother just might be holding a grudge against the machines… and willing to EMP the planet to plunge the remnant of the world into another Dark Age. Exciting times!
Just to thank you for stopping by, I put a little of the last week under the fold. Have a good weekend!
Putting aside our visual novel, OTChi Kocchi, it was NaNoWriMo that taught me to be a novelist. I am utterly wedded to the idea of irrational deadlines; were I not, nothing would ever get finished. This entry of Nichole5’s second book would put me just over the 50k limit demanded by NNRM, were I playing along.
That’s all well and good, but I need the Nation across the Cascades, beating the cannibals, betrayed by the Special Police, and burning Portland. In two weeks. Dang. The best I can hope for is either a mild heart attack that sidelines me from my DayJob, or a meteor hits the place, with the same affect.
Since it seems everyone was so disappointed when the plot showed up, let’s try something else: cute girls in once-pieces and hot guys in Speedos. As my eye doc said to me yesterday afternoon: “Better? Worse?”
I guess I could subtitle this one, On the Beach. Henge and Gary get a visit from a friend they’ve not seen in almost a year. And she’s bringing big news; news that’s fraught with emotion for our couple.
I see at least two more entries for this storyline. Will I see more? Should I move on? The world wonders.
Not too much… really just wrapping up Gary’s day I started awhile ago. The ‘problem’ is what I saw next: just as I feared, I’m sorely tempted to start talking about the Hartmann’s and how life has changed in Knoxville over the past ten years.
Deep breaths: let’s try to stay focused on our happy couple…
To cite Arkada of Glass Reflections: ladies, gentlemen, and others, I present to you the final installment of Act 2.5 of “Defiant.” Yes, you read that right: the writing component is complete. Editing and ret-conning the four parts of this 18-month, 85.5k writing exercise into a proper novel will begin.
And therein lies your chance, you followers of this blog and those that have wandered in via my sole social media presence on Gab.ai: if you so desire, you can d/l and read the entire story between now and Saturday, for free. It’s very, very rough, but you’ll get what you pay for. Come Saturday, whenever I wake up, I’ll be pulling the entire ‘free webnovel’ down as I begin to turn it into a commercial novel. As always, I’ll do the first-pass editing myself. Second and copyediting – and a cover – are as yet an unknown; after the layabout wife and the Dog With the Golden Nose, it’s all ramen and Taco Bell salsa packets here. My sole, possible, hard-deadline, is January 26th, when I might have another Creative Writing panel at Ohayocon. If I do, I’d like to say, “since my last panel, I’ve published two books… what did you do?” Keeps the snarkers from snarking.
Anyway, there’s just over thirty five hundred fricking words below the fold! Open a bottle of wine or make a pot of coffee, the one right next to that bottle of bourbon, sit back, and, please, see what I’ve seen… and have fun!
…start blowing stuff up.” I realized Wednesday, after a small psychotic incident (when you wake up wondering if you’ve had a stroke, the rest of your day will not unfold well), that cutting myself off from creative works was turning into a very bad idea. After scaring the hell out of my boss with my borderline behavior, I excused myself at 1300 and went home to stare off my deck into my backyard.
After an hour of that, I got a notepad & pen and began. Nothing detailed, just trying to SEE. Made about a page and a half while my aggregates slowly coalesced into normalcy. In downtime on Friday, did some checking and realized the nuke plant NNW of Portland, from my childhood memory, was out: the progs have obliterated all trace of it. But, there is a bridge, about a mile north… about 3/4 page of notes.
Today, half of #fam was at swim meet, so more waiting to SEE. Finally got it: a wrap to the Cannibal Army from Act I, as well as exposition of local politics, more friend Mackenzie, and how Joe actually falls for Nichole. Literally: from an exploding bridge blanketed by nerve gas.
No story below the fold, but I did want to share my notes; they’re 1;4 and 2;3 in the pics, so don’t get confused. I’ve made a gallon of my super-concentrated tea for tomorrow and am going to bed early. Hoping for much friendship, politics, and mayhem, tomorrow!
Exposition. But naked girls, too. So we’ve got that going for us; which is nice.
machciv 