Category: canon

almost caught up

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Man, I have been busting my ass to get caught up to where I need to be to ensure all the things I need and want to do in life get done, after a vacation that was pretty hectic, and didn’t leave a lot of time for anything, let alone extras.

I don’t regret it, but the work it takes to get caught up; I’m starting to think for whatever I can, I might need to intensify the workout, so to speak, before the vacation, instead of playing catch-up afterward. Some stuff will be unavoidable, but if the major stuff is complete, the stuff that can be done ahead of time?

Well, maybe then it’s not all bad, yeah?

Target: 1200 words
Written: 1395 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe (I'm pretty sure this book should have been called The Never-Ending Story, not that other one)
Comics: The Hawk And The Dove 4-6, Hawk And Dove 1
Music: East Side Story, Squeeze

the end

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Well, the end of the first draft.

Took a few days to get to it with how crazy it’s been lately and being gone and such, but here we are.

Complete first draft of two men trying to kill each other in an allegory of the left-right political spectrum (and not both-siding – the right is in the wrong, the left is just ineffectual and doesn’t seem to have the stomach for the fight).

Anyway, massive overhauls coming.

That’s the next phase.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1765 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath, H.P. Lovecraft
Comics: Hit-Girl v2 7-8, Kick-Ass v4 7-8
Music: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, The Rolling Stones

climax

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Well, I’ve hit the finale of the first draft. It’s this, epilogue and done.

That’s big work and typical for a first draft, I fucking hate it.

Got the rough idea down, but it felt half-assed and rushed. That’s what editing is for, I guess.

To take the paint colours you’ve chosen, and actually applying them to paper, ultimately throwing out the canvas and starting anew, tweaking, changing, trying different styles.

And eventually, you cut your ear off, and everyone thinks, GENIUS!

Target: 1100 words
Written: 2209 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski
Comics: Kick-Ass v4 1-2, Hit-Girl v2 1-2
Music: It's Hard, The Who (it fucking is)

the worst thing i’ve ever wrote

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I mean, as writers, we tend to write about people, good and bad, during shitty, shitty things. And I’ve written my share, for certain.

But, given that I believe that violence against children and animals is just about the worst thing you can do, it actually bothers me a lot to have written something along that lines (animal, not child).

Anyway, big, pivotal scene. Made me feel gross.

Sorry.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 2155 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Melusine, Sarah Monette
Comics: Cyber Force v5 6-9
Music: Isolation Drills, GBV

travel day

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Long, long day. Full flight to Amsterdam, then a short hop to Basel, Switzerland.

You know, as one does.

So, not much time to write today, so what time I have will be dedicated to the novel.

Also, Basel, kinda cool. Never been to Switzerland. It’s pretty sweet. Zurich, maybe, someday.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1352 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Road Through The Wall, Shirley Jackson
Comics: Cyber Force v4 2-5
Music: Irvine Plaza, New York, Anti-Flag

when tech goes wrong

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I had a brilliant little first draft of a scene written out, absolutely perfect (I mean, it would need editing, but for a first pass, I was in the zone), and then, I went to save it.

All OpenOffice locks up, leaving me unable to even copy the text into Notepad, let alone save the file. I tried to let it sit, let it run out whatever putting a period on a sentence made it do, but to no avail.

I prayed the autosave function that automatically restores files after they’d crashed would bring it all back, but nope. You had to apparently save at least once in order to get that back.

Eight hundred words down the drain, to be replaced by a second version coloured by my frustration and nowhere near as good, though it followed the same lines.

That’s annoying. Technical issues should never be the difference between something good and something mediocre. OpenOffice has served me well over the years, and I fucking hate Microsoft Word, for more reasons than their nonsense policies and anti-user standpoint (it’s the fucking UI and functionality I hate; it’s like they’ve never watched anyone try to create a document before).

But it may be time to think about finding something else. Something more basic. Functional.

Intelligent and user friendly.

But mostly, stable. Reliable. So flawless as to be almost unnoticeable.

Is that too much to ask?

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1186 words, novel: Bad Neighbours (officially, who knows what I was at before the crash)

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Cyblade 2-4, Fusion 1
Music: The INXS Collection 1980-1993, INXS

hidden action

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I started writing a sex scene, then realized, it actually makes for a better story to hide the sex act that is causing our main character such grief.

It’ll be revealed later on in the book, but for now, mystery is the way to go.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1569 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Ripclaw v3 1, Cyblade: Pilot Season 1, Velocity v2 1, Cyblade 1
Music: Invisible Lantern, Screaming Trees (so underrated)

thinking a lot about sex today

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Not because I need to get some (I do) or that I’m particularly feeling my oats (I am), but that’s mostly because for the first time, I’m writing a sex scene.

(Well, not the first time, but the first time in canon. I alluded to the father’s use of a late night laptop session in The Mungk, and a couple of the short stories referenced sex – Get Back Again’s misogynist ghost threatening/chastising his murderer with abuse/promiscuity, Forest Edge’s main victim being a prostitute, its villain getting what comes to him at the hands of the prostitute’s best friend after being seduced, oh, and Western Cradle, which deals almost exclusively with a woman’s revenge for the murder of her family and her own gang rape).

Okay, well, then, this is the first time in canon, and also, the first time where the character is engaged in a consensual act that they really have no love for.

It’s something I would do without hesitation, and would hope my partner is open enough to find fun and sexy, but Walter, the main… he’s a little repressed. Well, a lot repressed.

And so, this is hard for me to write, because I don’t have a lot of boundaries, and it’s difficult for me to get into the mindset of someone who does. For me, it’s no big deal; it’s play.

For others, it’s world shattering.

For me, it’s fun; for Walter, it’s disgusting (hygienically and morally).

And believe me, we aren’t talking anything that weird here.

You’ll see when it’s all done.

When it finally comes out.

When any of this comes out.

Most of it has gone nowhere.

I might be getting a little stale.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 685 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Cyber Force v3 4-6, Cyber Force & X-Men 1
Music: Invisible, Everclear

writing

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I finally feel like I’m moving in uncharted waters.

Like this first draft is starting to take real shape.

It needs massive overhaul and a total and complete rewrite, but hey, that’s what first drafts are for. They’re really just insanely overdone outlines, technically.

Brainstorming in real time.

Making shit up based on the loose guidelines given in the prep.

The raw paints and easel, with a word on a sticky note: bowl of fruit.

This is the blue pencil sketch, before the ink, the colour and the word bubbles.

(Of course, everyone uses Photoshop now, so you know, that’s outdated).

Fuck it. Let’s go.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1473 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Joy, Osho
Comics: Cyber Force v3 0-3
Music: An Introduction To... Elliott Smith (fuck yes, also, by, you guessed it, Elliott Smith, comma, comma, comma)

it’s fun when you can have fun

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Especially when that fun is a full circle diagram with the thing you’re working on, in this case, the very enjoyable wife and the very enjoyable mayor I’m writing.

The main character still needs a lot of finesse, as does the central villain and supporting characters, but these two?

Perfect.

So much fun to write.

Thank god we’re still in the first draft.

Books are made in the edit.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 2232 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs (enjoying this so much as well)
Comics: Ripclaw v2 5, Cyber Force v2 21-23
Music: International Pop Overthrow, Material Issue