The Background Chatter In My Head

Just me mouthing off. May or may not be interesting, distressing or subject to the laws of cause or effect. Watch for the hidden messages.

The Six Hundred and Eighteenth Post: The One Where I Just Let Them Ferment On the Vine

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I am going to strike while the iron is hot and give Tribal a majority of my attention. Sure – our current political situation isn’t going to go away any time soon, but I have the bad habit of sitting on ideas until they are no longer popular. Remember when the news of the “back draft” during the initial Iraq war? That gave me an idea for a sci-fi novel called Zeno’s Calendar. I might work on it at some point, but it illuminates the problem that I tend to let ideas almost rot on the vine as it were.

I won’t do that this time. Dirt Elf will be relegated to evening work, meaning if I don’t hit the deadline word count, I am not going to worry about it. I need to work further on the outline anyways, so there is that. I’ve only outlined up to the chapter I am writing right now. I need to work ahead a little so I can still have some direction in this book.

There is a dearth of other news, I’m sorry to say. I finished the book Victorian Psycho and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed American Psycho. It has certainly taught me a lot about first person views and how much description I can really get out of it. Although, I don’t know if that was the style of the time or not. If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like it Jane Austen wrote the screenplay for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Victorian Psycho will answer that question. Next up, the highly controversial Playground. Splatterpunk!

I’m also a little under the weather, so I am going to cut this a little short. Drink plenty of fluids, have an orange and say a minimum of three feet away from me. Thank you and have a good day.

The Six Hundred and Seventeenth Post: The One Where I Investigate That Rustling Noise…

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Thursdays sneak up on me. One minute, it’s Monday and I am wishing I were back in bed, the next minute it’s Thursday and I’m thinking: ‘don’t I have something I need to do?’

There’s a Thursday right there!

There is very little going on in the writing world. Once again I am juggling three projects: writing Dirt Elf, re-outlining Tribal (Got the idea for the MC to lose the first big fight he’s in to subvert expectations) and working out an idea I had about a slave who wants to return to their master – thinking about calling this one My Gilded Cage. I’m also reading two books: Victorian Psycho, which answers the question: What if Jane Austen wrote American Psycho? I’m also reading (or trying to…) an updated translation of The Man Who Laughs called Eternal Smile for a more literate project. Yes, I’m a genre whore, but I hope one day to get off the street corners and become a high-priced literary escort.

This weekend, I am going to finally (finally!) edit down The Agonizing Alibi Day and get it ready for selling before the end of March. It’s been sitting on my hobby table in the living room for way too long. I have to remember that the name of the game is getting books out the door.

I have been slacking off for a couple of days, and I blame that on my exercise routine. I’m back to mornings in which I was going every morning – but that’s not working out because I am dead tired by the time lunch comes and I end up taking a nap. I skipped today, which is why I am writing and not snoring (if I snored, which I don’t – Nancy, I’m looking at you). I need to get back on the stick with this if I am going to finish it by my self-imposed deadline.

When I write, I feel like a dog chasing cars sometimes. There’s so many targets out there, and I don’t know what I would do if I actually caught one.

Well, I need to get to running, I guess. Check out the books on the right side of my blog – even buy one! I’ll try to be a bit more regular with my blog. See you all soon!

The Six Hundred and Sixteenth Post: I’M BACK!

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I’m back! I took a little longer break than I had said, but it was needed. I’ve been working on The Changeling’s Crusade, but it’s not really jelling for me. It might be a case of it’s not really ready for me to start. I might set it to the side and work on something else. I am stuck on the re-telling of The Man Who Laughs by reading a new translation of the book. I could work on another fantasy novel – it’s not like I have any shortage of them.

I also need to get to editing down The Agonizing Alibi Day. I’m not a fan of editing but I know I have to do it. It’s just sitting there on my desk, patiently waiting to get cut up and rearranged. I did make some mistakes which were nicely pointed out. Maybe this Sunday, I’ll hit the highlights and try to get it all one. Just rip that Band-Aid off and get it done. I like the creation process. I like the writing process. Not a fan of the nuts and bolts re-write. I know that re-writing is writing. But I don’t have to like it. Right?

I do have more ideas coming in, and one that interests me is the idea of someone that wants to be re-enslaved. I think it could be a bit of a high-concept idea and certainly one that would resonate with today’s societal climate. I’m going to work on it…eventually. I just have a lot on my plate tight now and I need triage my current projects.

I think that’s all for now. I would like to thank all of you for being so patient with me while I took some time off. I feel well rested and ready to take on blogging again. Hope you all have a good day. Ta-ta for now.

The Six Hundred and Fifteenth Post — The One Where I Will Never Admit Mrs. Harkess Was Right!

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Don’t tell my seventh grade English teacher this, but I am not outlining all my future works. I’ll never hear the end of it.

I thought that doing an outline was busy work, but I am finding it to be useful. It’s keeping me on the straight and narrow as far as plot goes. I can explore different scenes while writing the outline and not say…when I am hip deep in the novel to begin with, and I imagine it’s going to ward off writer’s block know what I have to write next. I can have outliner’s block now. Nifty!

I can see where some people would be wary about outlining. Some people like to be surprised by their characters. I heard one writer on YouTube say that she never finishes and outline because she doesn’t want to know how her book ends until she writes it. Weird, but that’s what works for her then who am I to judge?

A lot of times, I’ll get to writing and I’ll peter out, usually when I don’t have an idea of what to do next. I actually do a lot of pre-writing in my head (my boss calls this daydreaming, and not working. Pshaw!). I never thought of it as outlining. All I’m really doing is putting to paper what I am imagining in my head.

Currently, I am outlining two works – The Changeling’s Crusade and an untitled romantic work. If I can’t have any ideas for one, I can gravitate towards the other. I need to get back on the ball for Crusade, however, because I want to start the rough draft for that one New Year’s Day…which isn’t that too far off. While I have a good head start on it, if I need to, I can start the rough draft with what I have and maybe work on the outline during lunch and the rough draft at home. I am going to fight to get the book done in three months’ time. That much I need to stick to.

With the holiday season coming up, this will be the last blog of the year. I’ve got to get gifts, wrap them without self-harm and canoodle with the wife during the holiday season. I will be back in mid-January, hopefully with a completed outline.

Until then, have a safe and happy holidays!

The Six Hundred and Fourteenth Post: The One Where I Whip the Sea and Call It Victory!

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I have declared the last two days mental health days, meaning I’ve done no writing, but I still feel bad about it. I just can’t sustain the concentration to keep up writing for more than ten to fifteen minutes. Today, I am going to throw myself into the study and not come out until nine p.m. for bed. I’m going to do the same thing on Saturday, but after I get laundry done.

I really need to get this novel finished, but there are so many distractions. I am in awe of professional writers that can tune out the outside world. Now that I have my study back, I might be able to get some headway done. The place was a stash room for a while – if there was something that we didn’t need in the house at the moment, we threw it in the study. I’ll post some before and after photos. The place was junky as anything for the longest time. Now, I just need to buy some shelves to put all my books up. Took a whole Saturday to do it, but with some help it was done.

I’m happy that this year is ending. I really have been itching to get back into epic fantasy and finishing three novels. Especially Tyro’s novel – that one’s been kicking around in my head for years. I feel really good about these books – them again, I always feel good about my books. I felt good (for the most part) about Tribal. I feel even better about it with a couple of changes that I’ve made in my head with the manuscript. I just need to sit down and retool it. Maybe 2026? I think the themes of cults and personal freedom are still going to resonate for a while.

So far, it’s just me and Evan trying to get stuff out. Any other writers out there pulling out their hair with frustration over Nanowrimo’s pace in general? I just think I’m really putting more pressure on myself than what’s needed. I should try to relax and just gently lean into it.

Well – I do have to get some writing done, so that’s it for now. Check out the links to the right. I am going to try to figure out how to update some of them, but the new way that this website is set up is making it a little tricky.

Ta-ta for now!

The Six Hundred and Thirteenth Post: The One Where I Am Not Sweating The Details…

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Well, it’s the November writing challenge and I am already a day behind. It’s not too bad – I’m cure I can make it up this Saturday. I don’t have any games (dang it) and I only have my office to clean up a little. I can complete this novel by the end of November and have it out by January. The most important thing I’ve learned from the past challenges is that I should have a freakout if I miss a day. Save the freak out for when it’s the final week and I’ve only written five words.

Just kidding – I’ve written way more than that.

I had a good birthday week. I went to the zoo for my yearly ‘mock the snow leopard for not moving’ and I was not disappointed. However, I’m afraid I don’t have many pictures to share. Dumbass me forgot to put a SD card in my camera. My camera was also far too polite to tell me in nay meaningful way that I had no card in my camera. So, there I was at the zoo – clicking away without anything being stores. Got some great shorts of the bald eagle. Got a very nice closeup of a polar bear. Even got a shot of a tiger being as lazy as a snow leopard. Came home and opened the camera to process my card.

I swore like a sailor and set my camera down carefully on the bed (Hey – that thing cost some money. I’m not going to throw it around all willy-nilly). I learned my lesson. I am going to check my SD slot every time I pick up my camera to shoot something.

Man…

Well – there is always next year. My wife always takes me to the zoo on my birthday. I lie going there. I like seeing the animals and making fun of the snow leopard.

The first time I went there was in August, and it was as hot and as stick as it can get out in Kentucky. When I saw the snow leopard, it was asleep in the enclosure, head rest on an outstretched paw and not moving. Not that I blame it or anything like that. I really didn’t want to move either and I was in shorts and t-shirt.

Fast forward a year and a half. It’s my birthday and this is the first time Nancy is taking me to the zoo for that particular day. It’s much cooler now and I come to the snow leopard onclosure. I am expecting the leopard ot be up and pacing about. As far as enclosures go, this one was pretty swanky with a overhead path. The other cats were jealous. I could tell.

Wouldn’t you know that the damn snow leopard was asleep? In the exact same position I left it a year and a half ago. When I turned to Nancy and pointed this out, I said “It’s not asleep, it’s dead. They had it stuffed so that no one would catch on.” Every time I have gone to see it, that darn cat’s been asleep except for one time, when I watched it walk across the sky path to the other side of the enclosure. We locked eyes for a second. No apologies were exchanged on either side.

Nothing much else happened that day.

Well – I should get back to writing about Evan’s growing digestive problems. If you want to read about him on a good day, check out The Dreaded Day Job. If you want to read about how he handles Christmas, read The Catastrophic Christmas Party. The third one will be out by January. Wish me luck!

The Six Hundred and Twelfth Post: The One Where I Do a Late-Stage Gender Reveal For the Main Character in my Novel!

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So, because I have to write something, I’ve started working on the second draft of Serve Me Now. The main character is a woman, but I thought – what if all of this is happening to a guy? What if there was a male influencer? Are there male influencers? According to Google – there are at least twenty-six, so apparently male influencers are a thing.

I think it’s a good idea in that there isn’t a lot done as far as radical weight gain in men. The question is, would this make a good story? I’m looking to create a feeling of Lovecraftian dread, touching a little on madness. I guess the question I need to ask is: would a man gaining weight and being shunned by society be a worthy criticism of that self-same society. I’m not trying to scare people for the sole sake of scaring people. I want to make a statement about the vapidity of celebrity culture. Would a guy make a harder impact with the statement, or would a woman?

I’m writing it with a woman as a main character, but I am still early enough into the manuscript to change it (I’ve only written a chapter and a quarter. I’m outlining as I go). I want to have this finished up by January 1st because I am going to charge ahead to The Changeling’s Crusade and try to get it finished in three to four months. I’m writing Serve Me Now just to get it done and out there. I will be stopping in November to write The Agonizing Alibi Day in one month to have it finished and out the door for the first quarter of 2025.

I think this is a good question: what makes the biggest impact?

I would love to hear feedback on this question. Personally, I am leaning towards a woman because they seem to be more susceptible to the pressures of society to maintain a certain look, and when I think of an influencer or someone who does adult-leaning entertainment, I see a woman doing this more than a guy. I’m willing to hear arguments from others who might say that a man would be suitable for lampooning society.

My birthday week is coming up, so there won’t be a entry for next week. Be sure to grab a copy of my book, or buy the books to the right from other, far better authors. See you all week after next!

The Six Hundred and Eleventh Post: The One Where I Tell My Character To Have A Seat on the Couch and Tell Me How She Feels…

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Can an influencer be sympathetic? That’s the question I am mulling over while I outline the second draft of Serve Me Now – the horror novel I want to get finished by the first quarter of 2025. She’s an “adult” influencer and model, meaning she does a lot of skin-showing and other things for a living. For this to be a good horror novel, I need to make her sympathetic…can we feel sympathy for someone whose only job is to lopok pretty? That’s my question.

I can go the old tried-and-true route of ‘hates her job’. I feel though I come back to this well a little too often with Evan. I could make her cynical of people. After all, her job is just to look pretty. She could hate going to the gym as much as I do, but she needs to go to keep her perfect shape, which leads to the real problem when she starts down the path she does in the book.

Maybe she likes her job for the attention but hates the work. NO\o choice in going to the gym. No choice in really what she can or can’t eat. Sure – she wants that slice of cheesecake, but she knows that that isn’t cheesecake, but an additional twenty minutes on the treadmill. She would like to put on sweats and eat a bag of chips and watch Hallmark movies, but that’s not bringing eyeballs to her OnlyFans site.

I think that’s the route to take. Everyone can find something wrong with their job, right? I mean, the key to having a sympathetic character is having something that the reader can relate to in their life. I’m sure we’ve all had jobs where if it weren’t for one thing, we would actually like it.

Here’s another one for the main character – for all the attention she gets, she’s lonely. I know that the whole ‘intimidated by my beauty’ thing is a little…cliched. All the messages she gets just amount to how much that particular person wants to sleep with her, and what kind of person she is in bed. No one comments on her stance on international affairs, or asks her what her favorite book is. They just want to know if she swallows or not.

What if she were a lot smarter than people think? Not super genius mode, but certainly someone with a good head on their shoulders. What if the person that knows her the best is her boyfriend Ian? I mean – he should know her the best because they’re in a relationship. This makes his inevitable departure even that much more painful because this was her tether to a somewhat normal life. When he’s gone, all she has are the empty platitudes of her fans. Even those begin to trickle away.

Yes. I think this is the route I am going to take. I just need to keep this in mind when I work on the outline. Can I show her loving the attention? Sure. There’s a little bit of narcissism in her to lap up the looks and leers. She could suffer from low self-esteem, which would explain a lot of things with her.

Well – that wasn’t so hard.

Now, I just gotta fold this into all the other things that are going on in the book. I am hoping to get it finished in time for publication by the end of the first quarter of the New Year. I want to have my schedule cleared for all the other books that I need to write. Wish me luck!

The Six Hundred and Tenth Post: The One Where I Get In Another Post Barely On Time!

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Deadlines, amirite?

I am working on the history of my fantasy world, and let me tell you – it’s harder than one would think. I have two discrete time periods that I am trying to join. One of them is typical fantasy – swords, elves and the such. The other period has guns and is patterned after the Wild West. In the later period, there are no elves. They’re stories told to children. My problem is two-fold. One: how to join these two time periods. Two: what happened to the elves?

A lot of times elves are always goodness and light…

Or dark dominatrix.

I really want to go in a different direction with the elves here.

So…why not make them like marauders? Hear me out.

The main continent is home to a race called the rahsaya – clouds of self-organizing, sentient magic. They were there first and lived for centuries before the elves came from their home continent. From there, they discovered two things: a resource rich land, and magic for the taking. Like all good colonizers, they take everything that isn’t nailed down and take a crowbar to what was. When they found the rahsaya, they didn’t see them as sentient beings, but as another resource. The rahsaya had no cities, no written language – barely could be considered living. Trapping them in the rare ore orchilarium, they were turned into batteries of magic. Entire fields and families were sucked into devices to make the lives of the elves easier.

Then a few elves discovered an old work called the Khesu-Kher. In it is the secret of immortality. Yes – elves are long lived, but they will still die. Why should the party stop simply because you do? The only problem is the Khesu-Kher was found incomplete. While many of the formula and spells were complete and useful, the one that was desired was incomplete. The cabal of elves spent time and fortunes to find the rest of the spell. This group came to call themselves Masters, and worked behind the scenes to further their research. When the war between the rahsaya and elves involved some humans called the Kuonradi, and started to go badly the elves fled the continent, finding another place to take root in.

This little snippet of history solves most of my problems. I have the elves, so I can continue with Rhona and Anya (if I ever get a good idea) and continue the story of the Masters and Tyro in the later eras. I’ve got a rough outline so far. There are seven ages with Rhona in the Age of War, and Tyro in the following Age of Man. I’ve even plotted a little further along with the Ages of Exploration, Colonization, Rebellion and Progress. Would the Masters see these ages? I don’t know, but it’s fun to contemplate one of the Masters laboring over a computer and bemoaning the loss of good scribes.

Well, that’s all I have for now. I know I should be working on the outline to Agonizing Alibi Day, and I’ll throw down a couple of bullet points before I head to the gym. Wish me luck in sweating!