Updates
writing-related things that I am doing:
- outlining chapters for Awesome Partner Skills
- thinking about my short story for July since it’s two weeks away
- putting together onesheets for two car-related shows
to followers who have read my ish: know of any magazines or trade publications that might be a good fit for my style? I’ve been thinking lately about subsidizing my existence with articles and/or short stories. I’ve heard that’s, like, a thing writers can do.
To tide you over…
to tide over my lovely followers, please enjoy this short story! I continue to work on other projects, but the 50 Unexplainable Stories project I started with my friend Jill is one of the most consistent. and I happen to be rather fond of this little tale. 🙂
Hoover Hawg of Eden, by August Williams
The house wasn’t the same anymore. Now the wind rattled impolitely at the windows, begging to let the dust in, a hollow replacement for the baby’s cries of hunger. Artie sat on the edge of his cot and listened to the plaintive howl, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the peeling wallpaper. He hugged his knees to his chest and tried to stop trembling.
In the other room, his mama stammered her plea: Arthur senior had to bring something home, anything to silence the spasms of her stomach. Artie bit his lip and closed his eyes, his mama’s soft and wrinkled face rising into his mind. She bore her Native American heritage proudly, though she rarely spoke of it. He heard her whisper, the desert will be kind enough to take me—it is full of my ancestors.
Artie dashed the tears from his face with a grimy sleeve and pushed himself off the cot. He ran past his parents, huddled over the dinner table, their hands entwined. He stopped long enough to grab his noose stick from against the side of the house and fled into the dust…
(for the rest, click the link!)
Started!
I’ve taken my first steps down this crazy road they call the first draft today. I’m not facing the blank page anymore – in fact, I’m on page 5 (technically page 3.5, but I’m counting the section pages, dammit).
I’ve written almost 2000 words and I can’t wait to keep going. THIS IS A GOOD SIGN.
hold your breath and hope real hard it stays this way.
I’m willing to slog for this one, but I’m expecting some fun moments too. =)
Engaging my senses
I took this weekend off – well, to be honest, it wasn’t voluntary; I’ve been feeling out of control of my life a bit, what with things changing and my temporary housing situation, so I really wanted to cling onto my project as the one thing I felt like I could actually exert my control over. But Jake, in his infinite wisdom, told me I should take a couple of days off and take in some material instead of trying to output it again right away. He was right, of course.
Ignoring my project, except when I was inevitably reminded of it, was rather difficult. At first, everything I was watching, seeing, doing, smelling, etc. had everything to do with AGGO and I felt like I couldn’t turn my brain off. Finally I got to the point where I was actually ignoring it, and I did take in quite a few useful pieces of media and experience, including:
- A bit of Viewing #3 of HIMYM
- Hand-sewing a shirt design that I created
- Paddling around on a crystal-clear prehistoric lake at night (it was as cool as it sounds)
- Reading a book called “The Accidental Creative”
- Reading a Star Wars book
- Watching Jake play SW:TOR
- Playing some Oblivion
And now I’m thinking what I need to focus on is taking in new sensory experiences, no matter how unrelated to my project.
Weird? Not really. Sensory details are one of my strengths, and though I’ve spent several months’ worth of solid time in a desert environment, I want as many sensory details and experiences as possible to bring my book to life. It’s a story for which my readers are going to need to suspend their disbelief, and I would like to inject as much realism as possible into it so they don’t feel cheated.
So I’m going to start with the sense of smell. To this end, I will:
- Walk by restaurants that make unusual or aromatic dishes
- Sniff all the shampoos, lotions, and other yummy-smelling products I can find
- Really stop to smell my food before I eat it
- Try to identify city smells when I’m wandering around downtown
If you spot a girl in a sweatshirt and cap (I’ve taken to always wearing a hat, my hair is at that super awkward length) wandering around downtown Seattle sniffing the air like a dog, it’s probably me.
Outline 1.0: DONE
Not-quite-five pages later, version 1.0 of my outline is complete. I had a couple of creative breakthroughs last night – those “oh duh of course that had to be the real motivation behind [insert plot point here]” moments that outliners talk about – and I think I have a solid outline to start with. It’s by no means done, because I can feel that there are places it’s sagging a bit, and I’ve sent it off to friends to take a look at where, why, and how I can bolster it.
But it’s a satisfying goal to reach, that’s for sure. I’ve never done such an extensive amount of research and outlining before (as little as it actually was compared to, say, an actual historical novel), and having a road map is much more helpful than I’d thought it would be. I’ve even started writing down scraps of scenes and dialogue, because the story is so clear in my head. Am I intrigued by my own damn novel? YUP! I would have eaten this up as a younger reader and today, too, would be overjoyed to find it on the shelves.
That’s a good sign. =)
The creative door
Today has been an amazing day all around. Friends have gotten bites on job applications, Jake has been an absolute beast of salesover at his studio, and I’m about to wrap up A God Grown Old outline version 1.0. So I’m certainly not here to complain or bitch and moan – I just have an interesting thought and quandary.
I’ll occasionally browse Tumblr’s tags just to see what’s out there. I find it to be a great source of off-the-wall ideas and inspiration, since I don’t exactly go in there looking for anything in particular and it’s rare that none of those pretty little slides don’t catch my fancy. Sometimes I see stuff like this, though, and I wonder: is there a creative door in my head I just haven’t unlocked yet? The imagination it must take to envision and then produce those images is…staggering. Yet I know that I have a creative power…I just think it’s not quite tapped yet.
I wonder, then, how to unlock that creative door. I’m aware of part of my problem: a fear of failure, or, rather, a fear of wasting time. Wasting time is, I tend to imagine, what happens when I get really excited about an idea and then show it to someone and all they can do is “thpppt” at it. Perhaps that’s also the fear of being rejected, since actually opening that creative door means exposing truer and truer parts of myself to the world.
I would love to find some resources, exercises, and essays on how to be more creative (possibly avoiding drug use. I’m not quite in need of mushrooms yet). Does anyone know of some helpful links or books I could check out? Or some activities/exercises I could try out?
Win a character appearance in my novel!
today is the LAST DAY! reblog, like, and follow today!
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as I launch into the final phase of preparation for my novel – I’m about to write the final draft of the outline, eek!! – I want to start ramping up my promotion of my baby! A God Grown Old is going to be AWESOME… and this is your chance to be a part of it. a real part of it.
so yes, this is a giveaway for a guest appearance in my novel!
I’m still in planning mode, so I’m not giving away too much about the book itself, but here are a few tidbits that should give you a feel for what I’m going to be writing:
- it’s set in the Middle East and North Africa, around 200 AD.
- it’s a re-telling of a famous myth, but from an unusual point of view.
- the main character is a dragon, and the four primary secondary characters (shhhh, it makes sense) are two humans, an Egyptian wolf, and a karkadann.
your character could be just about any animal, creature, or human that would exist in this kind of story-world (remember, this is a myth, so traditional African mythical creatures are welcome as well). you can choose to include an OC you haven’t written into something, or you can have yourself wandering through the wilds of Libya. I am happy to take any name and set of characteristics so long as I can find a creative way to work him, her, or it in to the story.
want to enter? rules rules rules!
- you must be following me. I know, I know, but I don’t post more than two or three times a day max, so I won’t be flooding your dash. plus, if the book sounds like something you’d like to read, you may want to stay informed anyway!
- you may reblog twice and like once. each will be considered an entry, for up to three entries.
- you may follow me on Twitter (AGodGrownOld) for one entry.
- I will be choosing the winner randomly on Monday, April 23rd, and contacting them by the next day. so basically you have ten days from the start of the contest to get your entries in!
I think that’s everything! if you want some more details about A God Grown Old, I am happy to answer some specific questions via my ask, but I’m kind of keeping it under wraps to some extent until I’m a little further along.
thanks for reading, following, reblogging, or snorting with derision! 😉
– August
Today, I outline!
this is a very strange place to be with a project – confident enough to draw up a road map, but hesitant because there’s no way I could be done with research on this subject.
which, in fact, I am not. superhandyawesomeboyfriend was able to find a buttload of helpful stuff last night, which I’m going to peruse today before/while/after I start typing up this outline. yes, it’s finally time – moving away from the notebook and pen and into the digital world.
I’m a little nervous, to be honest. when a project is on paper, it feels alive, real, and changeable. once I have typed it up, it feels like it settles into something resembling really thick clay: I can mold it, but it takes a lot of work and grunting and general whinging. but this has been a new experience, enjoying a novel idea this much, so maybe it will be different.
future-fear is a silly thing. it’s useless, except for informing my plans, but it can be crippling. I experience it a lot, especially regarding people I care about, but it settles like a bad cold over my projects as well.
so here’s to facing future-fear and overcoming it with a few good keystrokes!