An Aesop Amidst The Fairy Dust

As I start writing this, I'm getting the feeling this is going to be one of those posts where the title is much more interesting than the content. Carry on, carry on.

In my short story pool is simmering, is simmering. There are six ideas, they exist bubbling up and down, overflowing, wounding, winding, shimmer, simmer. Disentangle.

One, the first, "Cosmast Rhyt" - a far future humanity lives forever quest exploring what could motivate immortals and whether they're immortal at all with a darkly humorous tone throughout.

Two, the second, "Job Interview" - a chronologically diverse story of a mundane job interview with horrible consequences showpiece for description practice.

Three, the third, "An Aesop Amidst The Fairy Dust" (yeah) urban fantasy fair folk smart smart, doom. Why would you camp out behind an apartment building that you have a room in? A shirt becomes important, pull the thread, pull the thread.

Four, the fourth, "City Muse, Country Muse" Alan IV in the city doesn't belong, doesn't realize, mirror image, in the country, doesn't belong, notices, when the split, when the break, What! This...muse, where? Explosion, death. Might get in trouble for that.

Five, the fifth, "The Ambassador's Lady" Imperial Russia, Byronic Heroine, Machinations, Invasion, Message, Gift, Court, Research, -----> Climax, Sexy.

Six, the sixth, "Revolt in Youth" a rebellious free spirit with a cruel governess, kidnapped by a pirate, a swamp hag, a ship captain, mother, rebellious daughter. The swamp hag is first, last, all. Slipstream, slipstrum.

SEVEN, there's a lot to be said for slow-cooking.

Back to the garal.

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sssThat's how it's done. You've just been invited to spend a few moments in the Creative process. You won't wonder when it works, wonder when it doesn't.

Because when it's working right, you won't notice it at all.

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - Jules Verne's English Translations

*127

Magical Adventures in the Everyday

Now that I have finished "Sorcerer's Hire" (i.e. Magic) and "Ostracon" (i.e. Knight-Errantry) it is time to revisit Fantasy and see what I have Learned.

I kicked Fantasy ass
Just to get that out of the way. One story in a magical-industrial warfare setting and one tale of mesolithic errantry. Not half bad.

Magic is fun, sometimes
It's an interesting challenge to work out the system the story wants.

I don't write Medieval European Fantasy
and I tend toward the low end on the spectrum from High to Low Fantasy. Urban Fantasy is amongst my next projects. I also take the view that plenty of people are writing classic fantasy. I want to see where else I can put Fantasy. Anyways, I didn't read all this non-European history and anthropology to set all my stories in a setting I am less qualified to evoke.

Description is more important in Fantasy
The big Craft take-away (as opposed to genre distinction) is that I don't describe much. Whether that means I don't describe enough or I describe just enough is up to experiment. I'll have to roll through a few stories describing more than I usually do and see what happens.

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The results are in on my productivity survey. Lots of folk recommended Freedom, so I tried it out. Then I found a better tool called Rescue Time, which fits my need for statistics better.

Use it, and this pretty lady might glance at you briefly before walking on.

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - Lusty Tales and Hot Sales: Romance E-Books Thrive
(The New York Times)

*126

Post 125

I thought it'd be pretty lame to celebrate Post 120 as it was an Away From Blog moment, so here we are at Post 125, the fifth of four twenty-fives! Exciting! I was going to be all cool and have six new stories up and ready at this point, but that has been delayed slightly (I have to finish the Cover Art and formatting on two of them), again by the Away From Blog moment.  That'll happen presently, though. Awesome!

Anyways, here's what this blog is about: Every day I come up with a post about the Craft, Business, Mindset, or Technique of Writing. I add a picture and a random thought under the pound sign, usually in the hopes of it congealing into a story idea. I then put my word count for the day and the projects I worked on. Sometimes I forget to add in my total word count if I advanced a book a lot, but you can be assured that I'll always get 250 words out every day unless I'm dead. Then I'll put what I'm currently reading. Since I read so fast, sometimes it slips my mind when I'm actually writing the post, but if it was memorable, it'll go down there.

Then, if I'm feeling especially dramatic, I post a link to one of my available stories. Huh. I guess today isn't one of those days.

After that, I sit back and watch the comments flow in.

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I'm perfectly willing to be the opiate of the masses. Sure, I'm an Artist, but I don't have to starve. I bet I could write two magnum opi in the time it took those underfed losers to write one. Yeah!

On the other hand, chariots are pretty cool.

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - ?

*125

PARTY!

There are some times in a Writer's Life when he has to party or go mad. Some parties are better for Writing than others, but all writing and no fun makes David a sparkling wit. There are three kinds of parties:

The Loud Music Party
The party where one drinks and dances with girls while shouting over the music. It is best to become adept at complicated hand gestures for these events. Draw forth from the frenetics and latent eros a glorious future, bestowed with all the glamor of the overt. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the pulsating rhythms. Later, when you wake up in the middle of the night before you wake up hungover in the morning, apply your experience to a dramatic chase scene or climax. Bring mouth spray.

The Talking Party
A party where you, the writer, can test out all that witty wit and sparkling sparkle that you've been saving up. Don't worry if you don't know anybody's name, they don't know yours (if there are nametags, see below and act accordingly). This is where you get feedback on all this dialog you've been writing all these years. Remember, Mark Twain made more money as a speaker than as a writer. Unless you're a total recluse, you should be able to handle this sort of thing or what's the point of having a cool job like Writer?

The Boring Party
When you are either the sexiest or most interesting person at the party, you've stumbled upon a Boring Party. Steal the beer! And your sexy and/or most interesting counterpart! Run, run!


Any function without sufficient alcohol et al is lumped into the grand term Tea Party. Unless it's of the Mad variety, I'll have no part of such foolishness. Although I will have some of those little sandwiches.

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HAHA PUNS

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - ?

*124

Back To Back

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Yeah, I did just subject you to six days of low text posts. And only two of them featured a suspiciously awesome webcomic. You should be angry. Yes, I can feel your anger, I feed on it.

Like the Peruvian Doom Monkey, I live in a symbiotic relationship with your loathing.

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2500 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"
Short Story "Ostracon" - finished

- - - -

Reading - ?

*123

The Big City, Day Four

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If all has worked out as it should, I'm leaving the city after a wild night. Regular operations should resume tomorrow when I've recovered. For you: As an inhabitant of a city in a post-mild climate change apocalypse near-future, what's your job?

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - ?

*122

The Big City, Day Three

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Another day, another adventure. This one takes place in a city. This time I'm wandering around aimlessly, speaking a polyglot lingua pidgin and probably drinking poorly unidentified alcoholic beverages. The question for you is: You're a test tube colonist-spawn of anonymous sperm and egg dumped on the Moon to make the best of things. What are the chances this is some sort of reality holovision?

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250 words? Yes

Book "Lived Too Long To Die"

- - - -

Reading - ?

*121