tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-277754962024-02-08T07:56:08.609-08:00Rikoshi WritesOne writer's conjecture and contemplation about that time-honored craft turned hobby turned compulsion.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-67612762257452679422011-06-14T01:10:00.000-07:002011-06-14T01:11:54.363-07:00Project Updates - Summer 2011So, I'll definitely have a new book out next year. The editing process for Novel #3 is going to take place over the summer. I just need to nail down a release date.<br /><br />Also, probably going to be having a novella dropping sometime early 2012 as well. I haven't written it yet, but I know the story and I think it's a cute idea that people will like.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-17450548485269811142011-04-22T13:24:00.000-07:002011-04-22T13:27:28.161-07:00Quick Publishing Plans UpdateSo, here's a very vague, almost information-free update on what my publication plans are for the coming year or so.<br /><br />If my current schedule holds, I should have a new novella ready to release later this year; right now, I'm aiming for November, which should be doable.<br /><br />Also, I've got my current novel project. That one has been a fun struggle so far, but hey, I'm liking how it's coming along. That one is likely going to be released in January 2012, barring any more unfortunate incidents in the editing process that make me go back to the drawing board all over again.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-46665580366101579622011-03-15T15:49:00.000-07:002011-03-15T15:56:27.262-07:00News, Awards, and Honors!It's been an exciting week for me on the writing front!<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.ursamajorawards.com">2010 Ursa Major Awards</a> finally announced their nominees, and I'm very happy to say that my work has been nominated in two of the categories. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span> is up for Best Novel, and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Canopus Artyle</span> is up for Best Short Fiction.<br /><br />Competition in both of these categories is pretty strong. Still, while it may sound trite, it really is an honor just to be nominated, and I'm happy with just that.<br /><br />In arguably even more exciting news, I've also been invited to <a href="http://campferal.org">Camp Feral!</a> this coming summer to be one of their Guests of Honour. Yes, note the 'u' there; I'm going to be traveling to mystical, far-off Canada for the first time. My passport renewal application is sitting in my car right now, waiting to be mailed off.<br /><br />This is a really, really exciting thing for me. Having my writing recognized on this level is beyond flattering, and I was floored when I got the invitation. It's equal parts scary and exhilarating, and I'm sure the time between now and the actual event will be like a roller coaster of anxiety and giddiness in the meantime.<br /><br />So, yeah, big news all around on that front! Hopefully the good news will continue.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-70520727079491808072011-03-08T13:19:00.000-08:002011-03-08T13:24:55.717-08:00Project UpdatesMy writing continues apace!<br /><br />I've got a new short story called "Shadows of Novoprypiatsk" that's featured in the just-released <a href="http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=512">ROAR volume 3</a>. It's set in the same universe as my novels <span style="font-style: italic;">Thousand Leaves</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span>, but it doesn't directly tie in to either of them, so you can read it even if you haven't read the books. I'm really happy with how this one came out, and at least one of the characters in it is clamoring to make a return in a future piece.<br /><br />My third novel is coming along nicely, as well. I'm not ready to reveal a lot about it yet, except to say that it is <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> related to either of my previously released novels. I know that I promised a follow-up that delves into the history of the Butterfly Islands War, and I <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> still plan on writing that; this other story just crept up on me when I wasn't expecting it and demanded the brainspace to be written.<br /><br />I expect to have a near-finished draft of it done by the middle of Spring or so. It's already been through a few revisions already, and the current manuscript is feeling pretty solid to me. Should be pretty exciting.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more info and updates!Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-35787351542523814742010-12-14T00:32:00.001-08:002010-12-14T00:38:04.813-08:00Hello, dust-collecting blog!I really need to remember that I have this thing. I mean, how else will the webternets know what's going on with me?<br /><br />Brief updates:<br /><br />My "Cupcakes" novella, <a href="http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=466"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Canopus Artyle</span></a>, did in fact go on sale over the summer. The response was fairly positive. A lot of folks said that they liked my whimsical departure from my more serious work, but that maybe my more serious stuff was more compelling, in the long run, which doesn't really surprise me.<br /><br />It's been a good year otherwise. My name seems to be getting out there more and more, and whenever I do a book signing, I'm consistently flattered by the number of people who I don't know that go out of their way to find me and get me to sign their things. Knowing that there are even just a few people out there who read and like my books makes it all worth it.<br /><br />I'm working on another project right now, too, but I can't say much about it at this time.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-62873719403586163762010-06-04T18:48:00.000-07:002010-06-04T18:54:47.413-07:00Update!Wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since I'd actually updated this thing. Let's see what I need to catch up on.<br /><br />First off, response to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span> was quite positive! The book signing at Further Confusion 2010 was a very emotional and moving for me in a way that even the signing for <span style="font-style: italic;">Thousand Leaves</span> wasn't. I think it was because, with <span style="font-style: italic;">Thousand Leaves</span>, nobody really knew who I was; with <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span>, I had a ton of people come up to me because they'd read my first book, and liked it enough that they wanted a second. I don't think I can overstate how that felt.<br /><br />Another thing which has been in the works for a while, yet which has escaped reference here in this blog, is that I'm now also part of the team behind <a href="http://www.furrycupcakes.com">"Cupcakes,"</a> which is a brand of furry novellas that me and two other authors are putting together, as sort of a unique product line. My first entry into this should be coming out later in the summer, but I don't have a definite release date yet.<br /><br />Also, my next upcoming novel (title still TBD) is hopefully going to be in the works soon. It's alive in my head somewhere, but I need to hammer out a lot more details before I take my fingers to the keyboard.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-85351202968866526142010-01-12T12:18:00.001-08:002010-01-12T12:18:33.933-08:00Pre-Release Review of "The Seventh Chakra"I've got my <a href="http://www.weaselwordsmith.com/2010/01/12/gunfights-god-and-genetic-modification/">first official review</a> for <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>! It's over up on <a href="http://www.weaselwordsmith.com/">Weasel Wordsmith</a>.<br /><br />I'm actually really excited about this. Not only is the review very positive (which of course has me as waggy as anything), but for some reason, getting a pre-release review makes me feel more 'legit' or whatnot. Maybe it has to do with the industry I work in.<br /><br />So yeah, go check it out!Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-55034169256561404122009-11-15T02:24:00.000-08:002009-11-15T02:25:11.090-08:00The Seventh Chakra - All But in the CanAt long, long (long) last, I'm pretty much (almost) done working on <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>.<br /><br />I finished up the layout today (a grueling and not very fun process which took me about ten straight hours), and now that that's done, the guts that go into the book itself are just about ready to get sent off to the printer's.<br /><br />There are a few more things I need to do, like write my epigraphs and stuff, but that's simple. The novel itself is pretty much <i>done</i>, now, and oh, god, that is the biggest relief ever.<br /><br />According to my notes, I began writing this book in early March, 2007. That's over two and a half years of trying to get this puppy done and finished.<br /><br />My hope is that the work will have been worth it, and that folks will enjoy the end result.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-50430438840301990012009-11-03T16:26:00.000-08:002009-11-03T16:27:04.580-08:00The Final Countdown<span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span> is slated for layout this coming Saturday.<br /><br />Which gives me a few days to make any last-minute changes I want to make.<br /><br />Initial editorial feedback on the manuscript itself has been very positive. Here's hoping I can get it all together the way it deserves after all this time.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-36519168861950227782009-09-06T11:09:00.000-07:002009-09-06T11:10:03.139-07:00Seventh Chakra - Revised Draft CompletedSo, after last night's scotch-enhanced writing session, I did indeed complete my revised draft of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>.<br /><br />For those of you who might be interested, I'll explain what this effectively means.<br /><br />Back in March, I finished my first initial draft of the novel. That draft took me about two years to write (for those of you doing the math, I had begun writing it after I'd written <i>Thousand Leaves</i>, but before it was published; there will be much less of a gap, this time). I then sent that initial draft out for editorial feedback, sat on it for a couple of months and worked on some other projects in the meantime, and then came back to it to work on it over the summer.<br /><br />This revised draft can, in some senses, be considered a "second draft" by some people's reckonings. The first third of the book was heavily rewritten, a great deal of it from the ground up. My main goal there was to quicken the pace, better establish the characters, and general tidy up a bunch of crap I wrote two years ago that just wasn't up the standard of what I could write now. This is the portion of the novel where most of the actual <i>events</i> change.<br /><br />The middle section of the book is probably the least "changed" in the sense of "things happening differently." A lot of what I did here was just editing and polishing and fixing errors, making things sound better and flow better without altering the events that actually occurred, for the most part. I did still change a few things, narratively, but compared to the earlier section of the book, I did much less of that.<br /><br />Finally, the last third of the book, including the climax, dénouement, and resolution, ended up in the middle ground between these other two sections. I rewrote a whole lot of the dialogue in the conversations that took place, not altering the gist of what was said or the information given, but mainly just focusing on making it sound less staged and theatric (there was one character, in particular, who had this problem quite grievously). There were also a number of points that I needed to fiddle with due to logical consistency issues, as well as to match some of the changes I'd made to earlier parts of the book.<br /><br />(Oh, and finally-finally, I went and did a search for my "comma-then-comma" and "comma-though-comma" structures that I overuse like the dickens, and took out about 95% of them.)<br /><br />But yes, so what does this all mean?<br /><br />Well, the manuscript itself isn't "done" yet. I have sent it out for another, final round of editorial feedback, which I hope to get back shortly after I'm back from my trip to Seattle later this month. This feedback will feed into what will likely be my final round of revisions, the last changes I make before finally putting this thing to bed and saying, "Okay, it's <i>done</i>."<br /><br />The types of changes still to be made are likely to be ones of stylistic choice, ones where I fix more logical breaks I didn't spot before, and otherwise trim and pretty things up. The narrative itself will probably remain unchanged in most respects.<br /><br />So, yes, this is the last little spurt that needs to be made before I get to say, "I've finished <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>. Also happening now is all the stuff for the art for the book. I can't say much about that, yet, officially, but I'm <i>very</i> excited about some of the stuff that's going on there (and I'll hopefully be able to tease you all about it soon).<br /><br />In the meantime, I rest my brain. I'll probably poke and play with some short stories that have been sitting around on my computer and in my head, and will put some more focus on some roleplaying campaigns I'm doing.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-74942520490392031382009-08-25T16:26:00.001-07:002009-08-25T16:26:52.822-07:00The Seventh Chakra - T-Minus One Furcon (and Counting)I have reached what is effectively the "endgame" stage for my manuscript of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>.<br /><br />My aim is to have my edited, rewritten draft of the novel done before I leave for Rainfurrest--which effectively gives me three weeks to finish up what I'm doing. Work and other life things set me back on my own personal schedule, but now that I'm working with an actual editorial schedule, it's time to get my rear in gear.<br /><br />While I'm not worried that I won't have enough time, I <i>am</i> going to have to spend quite a few evenings dedicated to working on the book, so most nights in the coming weeks that don't involve prior commitments are probably going to be nights that I focus on writing and editing. It's kind of exciting, in a way, knowing that I've hit what's pretty much the "home stretch" of novel writing. It feels different than the first time, too, but then, the entire novel has felt pretty different, for what it's worth.<br /><br />I've seen in-progress art for the cover (which looks like it'll be <i>gorgeous</i>, by the way), and the wheels are turning for the interior illos, too. All in all, this really is the stage where, whether I'm mentally prepared for it or not, the book is going to be done, all tidy and ready for its January 2010 release.<br /><br />So, yeah, I'm excited. I hope that the book turns out well and that people out there like it. From a writer's standpoint, my hope is that it can be a better novel than <i>Thousand Leaves</i> in every regard; from a personal standpoint, I'm just happy to have another story out there to tell that folks can hopefully enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Following Rainfurrest, of course, begins the period where I get to aggressively self-market and promote myself in the months running up to release. :)Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-72404168672772918202009-08-20T09:20:00.000-07:002009-08-20T09:23:55.492-07:00Dusting Things OffIt's been a while since I've updated this writing blog, but at the same time, it's been a while since I've done much of significance, writing-wise. Due to a three-week business trip (which actually went really well), my editing and rewriting on <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span> had to go on hiatus, but as of this past weekend, I've finally gotten back to it.<br /><br />I'm past the halfway point of the actual manuscript, but we'll see how much of it winds up the same. The first third of the novel got reworked a fair bit, but so far, the second third has involved more "polish" than actual outright change. If you look at the novel in a three-act structure, I guess that makes some degree of sense, though part of me worries that I just can't quite tell what should and shouldn't be messed with.<br /><br />I've set a (tentative, unofficial, personal) deadline of September 30 to finish this editing pass, after which point I'll probably make a few more tweaks and send it it for some final editing stuff. I'm nervous and hopeful all at the same time.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-71146735647378316942009-06-26T18:14:00.000-07:002009-06-26T18:27:28.692-07:00Author Page on Amazon.comSo, I've got my own <a href="http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002EIGMZS">author page</a> on amazon.com now!<br /><br />I'm, er... not exactly sure how thrilling it's ever going to be, though. Right now, the only book I've got listed for my authorship is an anthology that I'm a part of (my own actual novel isn't listed by Amazon, so I don't even have <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> on there).<br /><br />I'll play around with it a bit more in the upcoming days, though. See if it gets more interesting.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-64990041639834156872009-06-04T16:57:00.001-07:002009-06-04T16:57:43.560-07:00Darlings, and the Subsequent Murdering ThereofSo, I've been doing some work on editing <i>The Seventh Chakra</i> for about a month or so, now. It's not going nearly as quickly or as smoothly as I'd like, to be honest, though finishing up by the end of the summer shouldn't be (too much of) a problem. I had originally had my birthday set as my target date, but I'm not sure that's quite as realistic, honestly.<br /><br />By this point, the earliest chapters of the novel are ones that I wrote over two years ago, and it really, really shows as I'm re-reading things. I'm looking at sentences and thinking, "Wait, what does that even <i>mean</i>?" And when I'm the one who <i>wrote</i> it, that's a bad sign, and so out it goes. Honestly, some of it is pretty embarrassing and cringeworthy.<br /><br />Character consistency has been one of the main things I've noticed. I'm looking at how all my main characters come off in these earlier chapters, and I'm alarmed at how, well, <i>out of character</i> they are. Again, you might think, "But if <i>you</i> wrote them like that, how are they out of character?" Well, just trust me: after writing the rest of the novel, I've got a much better grasp on what sorts of people these characters are, and in the early chapters, that's not who they're being. In some cases, it's actually enough to make my jaw drop, seeing how poorly-characterized some of them are (<i>"Why does Il-Hyeong keep chuckling and smiling?!"</i>).<br /><br />I also hit one of my little editing milestones yesterday: the first <i>complete and total excision of a character from the narrative</i>. It was just this minor side character who showed up once, was never mentioned again, and whose inclusion only served to slow down the story as I introduced him. So, instead, I conflated him with another minor character who already had a very similar (and small) role in the story anyway, and nothing of value was lost. So, yeah, minus one random skunk. Sorry, skunk-lovers. (Incidentally, the first character I stripped completely out of <i>Thousand Leaves</i> had a Spanish name, and so did this aforementioned skunk. I know for a fact that it wasn't intentional, on my part, but I find the coincidence kind of funny.)<br /><br />Rewriting things, as I've mentioned, has been going slow and spotty, though. Chapter One got a complete overhaul, and I'm really happy with my new version. Later chapters, though, have had less sweeping changes and more just tweaks to fix poor characterization and bad writing. There's not a lot I'm cutting <i>out</i>, which is worrying me, because I can't tell if the stuff I already have in those cases is pretty good as-is, or if I just can't see anything wrong with it. But then, this is why I have editor-friends to look things over, too.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'm starting to (annoyingly) get ideas for other stories to write, which threaten to slow down the editing process. Gah! I'm really bad at multi-tasking when it comes to writing, but I'll need to check my schedule and rate of progress before deciding anything for sure.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-80362608387491072492009-05-04T16:10:00.000-07:002009-05-04T16:11:00.930-07:00Back to the GrindstoneToday I finally brushed the dust off of my first draft of my manuscript for <i>The Seventh Chakra</i> and I have begun the daunting process of rewriting.<br /><br />For starters, I'm basically overhauling the majority of the first chapter (i.e., rewriting it from scratch) in order to better establish the sequence of events that follow for the next 300 pages--which, naturally, I didn't have a great grasp on before I wrote the book, first.<br /><br />I've got a lot of energy and drive to do this, though. Hopefully, after two years of dragging my butt to get the first draft done, I can get the edits and redrafting done by the end of this summer.<br /><br />Wish me luck!<br /><br />(Also, this marks my 50th post to this writing blog. I'm actually surprised it took me nearly this long!)Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-41177158761824203562009-05-03T02:46:00.000-07:002009-05-03T02:48:47.796-07:00Intra-Hiatus HiatusSo, earlier, I had mentioned that March was going to be my "month off," with my intention of returning to revising and rewriting my draft of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span> on April 1st.<br /><br />Well, I tiny side-project I started on ended up taking a lot longer than I'd intended, and so not only did I take up all of March, but I took all of April, too.<br /><br />Long story short, that's all done, now, and as of <span style="font-style: italic;">May</span> 1st, I can get back to the novel thing, finally.<br /><br />Sheesh!Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-30199444117530548412009-03-11T15:10:00.000-07:002009-03-11T15:14:16.605-07:00Planning for Phase TwoSo, after finishing my first draft back in February, the remainder of the month was full of things like vacation time and, well, work as usual.<br /><br />March has been my "month off" when it comes to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Seventh Chakra</span>. Once April hits, I intend to begin my revisions and my first round of edits, with the intent of getting a full second draft done by the time summer is underway. Considering that the first draft took me about two years, I'm really hoping I can work a lot quicker on the second.<br /><br />I've been quite excited, though, actually. Since completing my first draft and letting my brain just forget about it so that I could focus on other things (I'm working on a short story that I <span style="font-style: italic;">hope</span> I can get finished by April!), the novel itself keeps coming into mind, offering me various hints on how I might want to consider improving it, and that's a very good sign.<br /><br />I am, shall we say, cautiously optimistic, at this point. If nothing else, I don't hate the book with a seething, fiery passion like I did for a whole long time back there.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-35520931736269079512009-02-10T02:09:00.001-08:002009-02-10T02:09:35.226-08:00First DraftTuesday, February 10th, 2009.<br />1:49 AM.<br /><br />121,361 words.<br />17 chapters, 1 epilogue.<br /><br />Done.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:-2;">My brain goes on hold for a month or so, now. Then the real work starts.</span>Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-71262035545152109032009-01-20T17:47:00.001-08:002009-01-20T17:47:10.568-08:00ClimaxI'm partway through the writing of the climax scene of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>.<br /><br />To my surprise, there was a major change in one of <i>the</i> Big Moments that had been in my mind since before I'd even written the first word of the draft. It's not a change in what happens, but rather, a change in how it plays out.<br /><br />In one sense, it's only a slight change, but in another sense, it's a change that completely changes the tone of the climax of the story, and one that I'm happy to have realized.<br /><br />What comes after this remains to be seen. I look forward to it.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-87984287727532680792009-01-15T15:44:00.000-08:002009-01-15T15:45:10.152-08:00CulminationThe very next scene I'm slated to write for <i>The Seventh Chakra</i> is the book's climax.<br /><br />I'm kind of jittery just thinking about it. I've written all the things that build up to this scene, and this is where they all come together and the big, epic stuff happens and people finally get their answers as to just what the heck has been going on (people who have read early parts of my draft have said it had a frustrating, <i>Lost</i>-esque tendency to dump questions on top of questions without ever answering earlier ones).<br /><br />But here I am, fingers perched on the keyboardy doorstep of the Big Moment, and I'm really happy that I made it this far. Happy, yet also nervous, because I don't want to "mess it up," even though logically and intellectually I know that I can go back and change and fix things afterwards.<br /><br />The other thing I'm not quite sure of, yet, is the dénouement. It's looking like that might be a little on the long side, but hopefully I can make it interesting in its own right.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-31420148823123163362009-01-13T10:35:00.000-08:002009-01-13T10:36:14.506-08:00Hunnerd KayLast night, while out writing at the neighborhood Starbucks with my fellow writer-friend, I finally managed to hit the vaulted 100,000 word milestone on my draft of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>.<br /><br />Already, this makes it longer than my first draft of <i>Thousand Leaves</i>, though I suspect that it might still end up shorter than <i>Thousand Leaves</i> did in the end (around 121K words); it may reach that length, as I think of it, though I doubt it'll be much longer, if at all.<br /><br />As for the finished product, I find myself wondering how long <i>that</i> will be. I ended up cutting and stripping out <i>huge</i> chucks of my first draft of <i>Thousand Leaves</i>, and yet the final rewrite still ended up being 25,000 words <i>longer</i>. I can see something similar happening with <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>, for some reason.<br /><br />I also feel compelled to point out that, by this point in the narrative, every major character has been shot at least once (not always on the actual page, but there you have it, all the same). Just to give you an idea of what sort of things you can look forward to.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-86416757114904048532009-01-08T17:55:00.000-08:002009-01-08T17:56:01.637-08:00Progressing Towards the Finish LineI mentioned previously that one of my resolutions for 2009 is to have my first draft of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i> completed by the end of March. Now that a week of 2009 has passed, it's looking like that should be an actual realistic goal.<br /><br />Back when I was working on my first draft of <i>Thousand Leaves</i>, during the Spring of 2006, I was stalled around the 50,000 word mark. Then, one day, while I was at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, I had this beautiful epiphany where I suddenly just <i>knew</i> where all my plot threads were going and how they came together to reach the climax of the novel. To this day, it's one of the most amazing things that's happened to me as a writer. From that point, it took me just about a month to finish that draft (another 50,000 words or so).<br /><br />With <i>The Seventh Chakra</i>, I've stalled several times, and I haven't had any more magical epiphanies (that'll teach me to rely on fickle inspiration!). At long last, though, I'm only about a chapter away from the book's actual climax, and from where I am now, I can see how the rest of the book plays out.<br /><br />Well, for the most part. Today, on my way back from lunch, I actually had an idea for (what I hope is) an awesome scene with one of my characters. It's actually the very next scene in the sequence I'm writing, which goes to show how far in advance I <i>don't</i> plan things, sometimes. Despite having only just decided on this scene, though, it feels right, and I'm quite excited to write it.<br /><br />That's the thing about being a writer that always gets me: surprising myself. It happens way more than you might think.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-39453998356594765222008-12-31T12:58:00.000-08:002008-12-31T12:59:20.787-08:00Farewell, 2008; Hello, 2009There's a lot that can probably be said about 2008. I'm not going to get into all that, though, because this post is just about me and my personal resolutions for the coming year.<br /><br />Whatever else can be said about 2008, it was the year that I became a <a href="http://rikoshi.livejournal.com/566169.html">published novelist</a>, something that I'd always hoped for and yet never in <s>a million</s> almost thirty years ever thought actually would happen. Not only did I write and publish a book, but as far as I know, it sold pretty well this year, and people have been mostly favorable in reviews, which hopefully means that I wrote a <i>good</i> book.<br /><br />Of course, while <i>Thousand Leaves</i> was published in 2008, I actually did the writing itself far earlier. In fact, most of my writing in 2008 (and late 2007, actually)<sup>1</sup> was spent on my second novel, my working title for which has been <i>The Seventh Chakra</i><sup>2</sup>.<br /><br />Now, I've mentioned before in this blog that this sophomore novel of mine has been... problematic. While I certainly wouldn't say that writing <i>Thousand Leaves</i> was at all easy, this time around, it's just much more difficult. I'm not sure if it's because I'm holding myself to a higher standard, or if it's because of the content of the novel itself, or what, but it's been fighting me every step of the way (and, in fact, I've gone months at a time without even wanting to <i>look</i> at the damn thing).<br /><br />Well, that's all going to change. The steps have been tough, sure, but while progress has been slow, it's still been progress, and having gotten to where I am now, I can see the finish line.<br /><br />My major resolution, then, for 2009, is as follows: I'm going to finish a first draft of <i>The Seventh Chakra</i> by the end of March, and I'm going to have a complete revised draft finished by my birthday (July 25th)<sup>3</sup>.<br /><br />I think I can do it, too. I have momentum. And when you're a writer, momentum can often be the single most valuable weapon in your arsenal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:-2;"><i>1. Checking back on my records, I actually started writing it sometime in either late February or early March of 2007. Curse you, book!</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:-2;"><i>2. This is just my title for it. Currently, I have no concrete plans as to when or by whom or even <u>if</u> it will be published, so please don't ask for those details. Right now, my focus is solely on writing the damn thing.</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:-2;"><i>3. This way, it also doubles as a handy birthday present to myself!</i></span>Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-74251873484487846972008-11-30T00:13:00.000-08:002008-11-30T00:19:04.280-08:00The WagonI was just about to comment about how I'd once again not posted to my blog is almost forever, only to see that it's only been a month and a half--way less time than I thought it had been.<br /><br />Anyhow, to update on things:<br /><br />Not a whole heck of a lot of writing done lately. I wrote a few really short stories on the side, but overall, I've been really busy for the last month or so with a lot of things. I <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> finally gotten back to working on that pesky second novel, however.<br /><br />I'm just past 80,000 total words on what's (still) my first draft. By comparison, the published draft of <span style="font-style: italic;">Thousand<span style="font-style: italic;"> Leaves</span></span> is somewhere around 120,000 words (with the initial draft coming in at 95,000 words, roughly).<br /><br />I know I've mentioned it before, but the actual work on this novel has been going agonizingly slowly. Seeing that I've come a full 80,000 words, though, fills me with hope that an end is in sight. Really, my biggest fear is that the edits and rewrites will be just as bad to get out, but I'm hoping that once the story is out and on paper and in physical form I'll be able to 'get it' more easily and therefore fix it with more efficiency than it initially took me to write it.<br /><br />Maybe the Sophomore Slump applies to novelists, too, I suppose.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27775496.post-994049872593175942008-10-16T14:19:00.001-07:002008-10-16T14:24:07.624-07:00RepurposingI've got a short story I've been tinkering with and tweaking, lately. One of the side-characters comes across particularly well, and the folks I've shown the early drafts to really like her and think she's pretty neat, but that she doesn't have a lot to <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> in the story.<br /><br />My main thought, then, is, "Well, I'll give her more to do in order to justify her place in the story." Simple, right?<br /><br />Some of my fellow writers, though, have suggested, "You could always just cut her and use her for a different story, instead."<br /><br />And for some reason, that feels really <span style="font-style: italic;">weird</span> to me. Intellectually, I know that if I pulled her from Story A and placed her in Story B, nobody (well, nobody who hadn't read any drafts) would know that I'd done it, and if I did it right, her place in the new story would be fine and natural and dandy.<br /><br />Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to try something like that. In this particular case, though, I'm trying to get the character to work for the story she's already in, trying to justify her existence in that special way that we writers so often have to.Rikoshihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11477955699954488832noreply@blogger.com0