Revisions on Blood 2 are going… well, they’re going. I’m on page 65 out of 250. But I can only get about 10 pages in an hour. And it’s only going to be worse on Black Hole Son, which has 10,000 more words. So it’s slow. I see why most writers neglect the revising process – it’s grueling. It’s like going to the dentist. All you ever see are the things you get wrong, and get lectures about how you need to do this more. And you get each little thing picked at and picked at and picked at, until it’s like, “aren’t you done yet? Haven’t you got everything?”…
-
-
Avatar is Free!
Avatar has been sent out now. I supposed I should be happy about that, but I know it’s going to take months before I get a reply, and it’s going to be a rejection. I know for a fact it’s not material Asimov’s is looking for – it’s too immature. I sent it because, well, I need to send it. Writing without publishing is like shouting into a canyon. The hardest part is asking the postal guy for the postage, because it’s a neatly complicated order – weigh this envelope and then put the postage on it, and this one I’m going to stick inside. I couldn’t figure out how…
-
Revising Avatar is done
Revising Avatar is done, I think. After restructuring the first half (to move up the conflict), I pared it down 1500 words (to a total of 6500). I didn’t think that was possible, but after restructuring, some stuff just didn’t fit anymore. It was expositionary, and I miss it, but I think the story is better without it. I think most of the information is communicated already. Now all it needs is a few days incubation, and then a coat of polish, and it’s ready to send out into the world. I’ll need to read up on how to format it as a proper manuscript, and then start keeping track…
-
Back
Sorry, I’ve been neglecting this blog. I’ve been sick the past two days, and before that I was concentrating on Avatar. I’ve decided not to change the ending, after much agonizing over it, trying to find something better, something not so deus ex. After re-reading my critiques, I realized that only one person thought the ending was deus ex, out of about 10. Some others didn’t like it, but frankly, I don’t know a better way to end it. My original alternative ending was to bring back the game judge, but that was essentially also a deus ex ending. I couldn’t find anyway to end it well and not have…
-
How to Revise Avatar
Now that Avatar is done, I’m a bit confused about how to proceed. Should I incorporate the changes I made, revise totally, then look at the critiques, or look at the critiques, compile a list of things that need to change, change those, then revise the story totally over, or some recombination of above. I’m trying to figure out how to get the most done in the least amount of time, so I’m not running over material over and over. For both Blood 2 and Black Hole Son, I’ve been keeping a list of things that need to change in the next revision. I’m not sure if I plan to…
-
Avatar Revised
I finally got to revise Avatar. I figured I had to do it sometime, damn all the obstacles and time constraints. I managed to read it all at once, but I feel like I revised it wrong. I was trying to be a reader, but I feel like I scrutinized it too carefully and lost the reading flow. It went back to how I used to revise, but without adding anything in. It’s not a bad story. I feel like there’s a gem under here, but it’s buried in a bunch of dirt. My main complaint is that it feels like a fable for kids. It’s not complex enough, the…
-
Avatar’s Ending Sucks
It’s been about five days since when I was supposed to be reading Avatar and now, yet, I still haven’t done it yet. I’ve been too busy obsessing over the niggling details that I feel are keeping my story out of publication (damn that editor guy). Mostly the ending. From what I remember about my critiques, about half thought it was too “deus ex machina” and the other half didn’t say anything, so I’m tyring to think of something more significant, something more resonant. But everything I come up with still reeks of some third party coming in and fixing everything. I can’t figure out how to end it that…
-
Black Hole Son – Part A Complete
The first part of Black Hole Son is complete. Hurrah. Here’s how it is. Like I said, I completed up to the part where the two ends meet. This means I’m one or two scenes short of what I originally estimated, which was 88,000 words. The grand total is, in fact, 84,774. 3,224 words short of my estimate, which isn’t a bad thing. This beast needs to get trimmed down as much as possible. But if I kept with the same formula, that means the next two scenes have to be 3,000 words total in order to get my estimate. That’s not happening. The problem was I had so much…
-
Avatar – The Reckoning
All writers are insecure. And I was insecure to begin with, so that’s like a double stuff oreo of insecurity. It seems like my skill in writing is two steps forward, two steps back. Here’s the example, after I had my Stephen King dream on Sunday, I needed some comfort because I was feeling insecure that my story – Avatar – is now on Critters, but hasn’t gotten many reviews. That disappointed me because, unlike Blood 2, this represents my current writing talent. This one I really tried on, I made it a subject I know, I blended humor, drama. It’s not a whiny kid. There’s a plot. And so…
-
Avatar Submitted for Criticism
Avatar is now up on Zoetrope, a site for written works to be read and reviewed. Avatar is my story about a different kinda video game – where the character you control is sentient, and you must form a bond with him in order to accomplish tasks. By submitting it, it shall now be criticized, which is what I wanted. This is a good feeling, when you get done with a written work enough that you feel that you can present it to people, even if it’s still not done. It’s final form was about 9,500 words. And apparently, this was too long for Zoetrope. So I decided I would…