Well, what a tangled web this is. So as long time blog followers know, I worked on a book abouta year and a half ago called The Dreaming Pools, a fantasy novel. I got about 78k into it, lost the oomph, and let it drop to the side. Then earlier this year, I started a new fantasy novel attempt, The Dragon Queen’s Bride. That, too, sadly deflated and fell to the wayside.
There I was last week, driving along, minding my own business, all happy that I had finally finished my short story Aspect Ratios (which is out and about looking for a publisher right now – which might be tough since its categorized as a novella for length), when my thoughts turned to those attempts at a fantasy novel. I know I blogged about the trunk vs the maturing novel a few weeks ago, and I’m here to tell you I came to a decision wrapped in a realization: my two previous novel attempts would be better described as two halves of the same novel. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s a few inconsistencies between the setups that needs to be addressed, but the characters and core stories are better complimented if they are merged.
So far, all I have to show for it is this blog post, some random scribbles, and the starting of an outline, but this is my goal – to bring the two story together so they can birth a novel (and I can get this damned story out of my system). So there. A writing update. And its not even November!
Oh, right, you’re wondering about the published thing (sort of). I’m not sure what its called when you moonlight after you moonlight (starlighting? blue moonlighting?), but I’ve been giving a (small) hand at work writing some copy, some of which will be going up soon, and some is already up. Now I’m not going to point out which pieces (mostly because I’m not sure if that’s appropriate), but it still almost counts as writing and being published, right? I will say this – I have new respect for the copy writers at work. I mean, ThinkGeek is an awesome place, and I doubt seriously you will find such a large, dedicated group of distinctly happy uber-geeks anywhere, but we all have our specialty geekiness, right? I mean, when I was helping write this copy, I got to actually cherry pick the new items that I knew something about, making my job a breeze. But the full time copy writers, they don’t get that luxury. They have to write somewhat funny, full descriptions and gotchas for merchandise they may or may not have any interest in. This was hammered even more home when I looked around at other sites selling the same things and realized they don’t put any heart or depth into what they say. “Item X is round. It bounces. Its a ball. $59.99.” That does nothing for me. So, kudos and a hats off to the copy writers of ThinkGeek, in particular the one vowel gal that let me horn in on her work to “help.” Oh, and playing with a childhood cartoon figure, followed by blasting the Doctor Who soundtrack for “inspiration” for the next bit, that was just too cool.