Last Wednesday I started receiving critiques for Merm-8, Chapter 5. That’s the last of my chapters in the Critters queue, so that means it’s almost time to jump back into the water. I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’m a little nervous about returning — will there be a lot of revisions to make? Did I forget everything about the story? Am I writing the right plot for the setting? And there’s a little relief that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I got a lot of critiques, a nice amount of RFDRs, so I’ve got a lot to read through before I can start actual…
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The Little Mermaid Sony “Re-Telling”
Okay, there’s this. Sony Pictures is going to do a dark-retelling of “The Little Mermaid”. Here’s some choice bits of info. It is based on the book “Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale” a book that is based on the fairy tale, but basically expands on the human princess (essentially the Vanessa character, if you’ve only seen the Disney movie) who is fighting to unite her warring kingdom. It will be directed by Shana Feste, who directed “Country Strong” (a movie I didn’t see but looked like a serious version of Lurleen Lumpkin). First, reading the Amazon summary, it seems like it’s just another two girls fighting over one…
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Not Dead and Reel Wisdom
Not dead. Returned from vacation. Lots of catching up to do. Finishing my last short stories, and about to start new ones while Mermaid Story incubates and gets peer reviews. Overall response is much more positive than last time and the goals I tried to hit are the goals I did hit. In the meantime, enjoy this bit of film philosophy.
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Your New Year’s Gift: Mermaid Story’s Cover
Here is your New Year’s Gift, the cover I made for the Lulu version of Merm-8 (draft 2) For a self-published cover, I think it looks pretty good myself. Not to say there aren’t some problems, which I will address later. This is obviously not what I first envisioned for the book before I penned it. But that cover doesn’t exist. I would have to either draw it myself (and I am not an artist) or commission some DeviantArt person for it. The two messages I needed to get across were the futuristic waterworld setting and the mermaid. The image above is meant to represent a Seaplex — a floating…
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In Which Merm-8 Draft 2, Lulu Edition, Is Received
I got my version of Merm-8, second draft came from Lulu.com yesterday. I tell you, there’s nothing that compares with the sensation of seeing your work in print, even though it’s a “fake book” (as in, not a complete, finished novel). I opened the box and saw the cover that I made, the spine I made, the back blurb I made. It started as a glimmering idea in my brain and became this physical thing that exists in reality, not in bits and bytes on my computer (like Black Hole Son). It ended up on a page that people can see. And it looks like a real book. I mean,…
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Merm-8 Draft 2 Is All Done
When I gave my wife Black Hole Son – Draft 2 to read, she complained that the three-ring binder I used was unwieldy and difficult to read. Thus, she didn’t get through it (this was fine, as I’d already gotten the feedback I needed from other sources). But for the next story, I would need something more manageable if I wanted her to review it (and I do). Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some way to form your manuscript into an affordable print-on-demand book? But there is! Lulu.com, as recommended by John Scalzi can do that and more. I spent the weekend making the print-ready text, the cover…
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Mermaids Going to the Bathroom
Last week was quite busy. I had software training all last week that took 50% of my time away from my computer. I’m still trying to get Mermaid Story all macro’d, which consists of objectively examining each problem word and phrase (adverbs, cliches, etc.) and evaluating whether they stay or go. Tedious work, and time-consuming if it’s for a 90,000 page manuscript. So I’ll leave you with this thought I had this morning. The little mermaid must have wet her pants at some point. Well, think about it. Mermaids likely don’t have a bathroom. The world is their toilet. Their bodily waste simply floats away. I doubt they do it…
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Second Revision of Merm-8 is Complete
Last night, I finished the second draft of my Mermaid Story. Nice to be done with the arduous task of evaluation and analysis of each individual sentence. It’ll be good to put the critic away for a while, at least for this work. What do I have next? Well, just because I finished the text doesn’t mean I can just save it in a folder, and forget about it for a while. There’s meta stuff I have to do. Those include. 1. Fix a few artifacts in the plot (stuff that was true before I changed a plot point) 2. Run all my macros on the manuscript (this calls attention…
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Whining About Originality
Not a good day for my writing mojo. Because I listened to this podcast today — The Mermaids Singing Each to Each by Cat Rambo (text version). Now I have no idea how this happened. It is surely coincidence, but a bizarre coincidence. But this story has all the elements that Mermaid Story is going to have–ocean setting, ship with talking AI, mermaids, post-apocalyptic future, body modifications, even “new” money. These aren’t just little bits either–they’re the macguffins that the novel hinges on, the same as this one. True, it’s not the same story. But it has all the setting elements that I use that differentiated it from other books.…
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Back to Mermaid Story
I finished revising all three of my short stories. They’re all in the Critters queue, the first of which will be serving up critiques next week. That means it’s back to Mermaid Story. This is the big revision. The one where I go through it line by line, making sure everything that I meant to say is what I said. And making sure that what I meant to say is what I meant to say. Sometimes things don’t work. Sometimes scenes have to go. Sometimes characters have to change. It means I have to kill all the bad writing, all the confusing sentences. It also means I can kiss about…
