Unspoken Worlds

Here are my Writing Goals for 2008, expanded... I'm starting off pretty light. Don't want to hurt myself. XD


1) Designate 2 days a week to devote to nothing but writing while at home.

*These days will officially be Monday and Friday.

2) Finish The Desert Throne. It's been five years, it's about fucking time.

*13 chapters to go. If I write a chapter per designated writing day, I could have it finished and ready for editing in approximately 2 months.

3) Do something significant on The Hakkan.

*I'm not even requiring that I finish this, just get some significant writing done. This kinda sucks, because I wrote a good bit on it before I decided to completely overhaul and start in a different place. >.<

4) Finish at least five short stories.

*I've got at least five waiting on my laptop. Problem is, not all of them could be worth finishing. I COULD plot out some more stories that go in the series "The Savage Beast" started.

5) Get a short story published somewhere (preferably not with CDP).

*I could always continue to publish my own work, but I'd rather not.

6) Work on a submission and marketing plan for The Desert Throne.

*I don't necessarily have to start submitting and marketing, unless I get the book edited to my satisfaction, but coming up with a plan would be a good idea. I know who I really want to submit to, but I should have several backups, just in case. As well as a marketing plan I can share with any publishers.

There they are! HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

I HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHY WARS WASN'T WORKING. OMGs. SO SIMPLE.

I wanted to limit myself too much. Even as a novella instead of a full-blown novel, there's simply too much going on in the WARS reality to try to limit myself to following only two main characters. TWO CHARACTERS?!? What was I THINKING?? There's way too much potential in this thing to limit it to the story of two characters! Especially because part of the problem was I KNEW there was an interesting story for them, but it simply wasn't enough to build a larger story out of.

THIS, though, THIS I can work with. This is even better than the War Stories anthology I wanted to write. This is going to be commentary without being TOO obvious. I hope. If I can pull it off.

OFF TO BRAINSTORM.

Here I am, taking a page from reannon's book. I'm going to start setting writing goals for myself instead of general New Year's resolutions. I've never really made any NY's resolutions anyway, but I think writing goals are a good and relevant alternative. So, without any further ado, my Writing Goals for 2008:

1) Designate 2 days a week to devote to nothing but writing while at home.

2) Finish The Desert Throne. It's been five years, it's about fucking time.

3) Do something significant on The Hakkan.

4) Finish at least five short stories.

5) Get a short stoy published somewhere (preferrably not with CDP).

6) Work on a submission and marketing plan for The Desert Throne.

There it is.

Yay for junk mail from "publishers" that want you to pay them to publish your book.

Um... no. Sorry. Not that stupid.

I need someone to talk to about writing. Someone to be a sounding board most of the time, but also who can actually help me when I need help plotting or character-wise. ::SIGH::

I've decided where I'm going to submit WARS. Assuming I ever finish the damn thing.

HOLY CRAP I'M WRITING AGAIN.

I just finished Chapter Nineteen of the book that is now officially titled The Desert Throne. For all of you just tuning in, that used to be Shii'a Spell and Shy'a Spell and many other variations thereof, none that I liked. The Desert Throne is a much, much better title for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact--recently realized--that scenes dealing with Najwa and her part of the story take up the vast majority of the book. Kiernan hates this, because this book started out being all about him. And now it's not. Kiernan has a later book devoted to him, though, so I tell him to shut up about it. ^___^

Though, he gets abused a lot in that book. A LOT. I think that's fun. He doesn't. I'm the writer so I win!

At any rate, I'm SO HAPPY to finally be past the big Council scene were Najwa drops her big bomb. I'm not sure enough Hell breaks loose, but that can be fixed in first edits. Right now, I just want to get the damn thing finished. I want to write that last line. I want to be able to actually, seriously work on the second book and the third book in more than just random snippets. I want to turn this into the series it's meant to be, but I can't do that if I can't even finish the first damn book. Many writers take years to complete even one book, let alone series, but I HAVE been working on this book for years! It's about time!

So, now that I'm seriously writing again, and I've decided what to do with The Hakkan, I can hopefully get my ass in gear and do something really productive. Maybe I'll finish one or the other before the year is out! T^T I would so love that. Hell, I'd love to have one or the other finished by this time next year. I'm actually not that far away from having TDTh done, it's just a matter of getting there in a faster manner than I've gotten to where I am.

I know where I'm going to submit The Hakkan when it's done. I'm not sure where I want to submit TDTh. Well... I AM, but... I've become so immersed in the small press and independent publishing scene, it's become quite a daunting idea to submit something to a big house. I really, really don't want to put TDTh anywhere else, though. This is my baby, the project I've held closest to my heart, and one of the main characters is the character that is closest to my heart. Not that I don't adore small and independent publishers... it's just, in my heart, this book deserves bigger. Not better, but bigger.

Well, even if I DO manage to finish writing by the end of this year, it's going to need extensive edits and rewrites and probably rearranging before it's ready to do anywhere. It will need a damn good beta, too.

I hate this. I have all these stories, all these words pent up inside me and I can't seem to make them come out. Not as I'd like, and if they won't come out the way I want, then my brain seems to say "I won't write any of you, so THERE!"

I think I've finally decided I need to completely rework the beginning of The Hakkan. I was going to start it before the events of "The Kahbid-Dai," and things were going to catch up with the story, and then proceed onward from there. I think, though, that I need to just give up and start AFTER "The Kahbid-Dai." I can insert more flashbacks to explain how they met, if I really feel the need. I am going to miss the scene of Joshua being kept in an old department store display window as a cage, though. I thought that a rather ingenious piece of storytelling, if I may say so myself.

As for Shy'a Spell, I think I've finally come up with a better series of titles for those books. I really love the title for the second book, The Veiled Throne, so I've created titles that fall along the same lines. I believe Shy'a Spell--and everyone who knows anything about this book knows I've always hated that title but couldn't think of anything else--is going to become The Desert Throne. To Walk the Shadows will become The Shadow Throne, or perhaps The Shadowed Throne.

WARS is something I really, really think I need someone to talk to about. It just isn't coming together in the manner I invision it, and it isn't worth it if it doesn't have the atmosphere it does in my head. This one has a purpose, but it has to be as close to perfect as possible in order to achieve its full potential.

Draka and everything else on my list are way on the back burner. These are the most important projects to me right now.

I've been thinking of trying to write some fanfiction (which I haven't done in a long, LONG time) in order to loosen up my writing muscles. I don't really want to work on Mended Wing or Ames Qui Dorment because I don't want to raise people's hopes that either might be finished soon. I've got a vague idea of a GW oneshot set in the Wayward universe, before the end. YAY SHINIGAMI DUO!

Okay. I'm done. Gotta potty.

What I need to get me jump-started is what I used to have.

Someone I totally trust to babble to about my work. Someone who will listen to me for about half an hour, then spend the next three in a discussion about what works and doesn't work with my ideas, and what else I might consider. This person also kicks me in the ass when I'm not motivated.

There's no one right now who has the time or inclination to be that person for me, and I'm floundering without a sounding board.

Instead of writing something that I actually NEED to work on, like oh, say... The Hakkan, or Shy'a Spell, or even WARS, I've started a new short story.

Luckily, it seems to be one of those, like The Kahbid-Dai, that is basically writing itself. I've already got a little over 1,000 words, and I'm maybe a third finished. I'm hoping it won't be too cheesy when I'm through, but then again, maybe cheese is what BLTwist wants. Who knows until I finish it and submit?

I still don't have a title, though. I HATE titles, or coming up with them, anyway. I have no idea what to title this stupid story, and I don't see having a better idea once it's done.

BAH.

Despite the icon, I haven't been writing much, lately.

I've been completely wrapped up in other things. Of course, work takes up the better part of my day, and sleep the better part of my nights. Between those two things has been mostly CDP concerns.

However, Iris Print has announced their intention to start a side company, BLTwist, a BL magazine. I really, REALLY want to submit something to them. My first thought was to revise "Once Upon a Time" to the specifications that were indicated by the rejection email from Iris, considering I agreed with their biggest issue. The problem is that OUaT is about 6,557 words, while the maximum word count for submission to BLTwist is 6,000. 557 words over. I might be able to cut out 557 words, but at the same time as I add the requested content.

Then I thought about getting my ass in gear for "WARS," but there are actually two problems with that. One, that's intended to be a novella length project, well over the 6,000 max. Two, it's intended to be graphic, and BLTwist has stated they're to be safe for 16 and above. Which means probably no graphic erotica. Dang it. heidi_elizabeth, say nothing about grapes.

::sigh::

So, if I want to submit to BLTwist, I'll have to come up with something completely new. Preferably semi-original as well.

Hmm... or... perhaps something in the "Draka" universe? Since I've concluded that writing and submitting something to the publisher asking for dragon submissions isn't worth my time or effort.

Then again, BLTwist isn't paying much better. Why, then, do I want to submit something to them so much?

Bah.

Well, I looked again at the call for dragon stories. Any story that's accepted is only worth $25 to this publisher.

I'm sorry, $25 isn't worth my time or effort, considering the fee to register copyright is $45. I'd LOSE money on that. If I'm going to write a story specifically for the purposes of submitting to a particular call for stories for a particular publisher, then I want, at the very least, to break even. It would be better to actually turn a profit, even if it's only five bucks.

And on further inspection of their website, they have no submission guidelines. All they say is that any submissions that aren't requested will be trashed. Well, that's lovely. No submission guidelines except for the bare bones that comes with a call for stories (I suppose a call for stories counts as a request?), and actually encouraging people NOT to submit.

O.o

Man. This seems a silly way to run a publishing company to me. But that's just me.

I've almost decided it's sort of not going to work (not yet) for me to set myself deadlines. I haven't evolved enough yet in my discipline to be able to do that. I'm at the point where I'm just being able to force myself to write despite my anxieties.

So, with that in mind, here's the switch-around of my "schedule," meaning these are not in any specific order:

WARS - Short story. Perhaps a novella? It's possible there's enough material here for a novel, but I'm not sure I want to take it that far. I think novella-length is good for this one. Have the backstory, plot, characters, and have starting writing some scenes here and there, including one that is shaping up to be pretty steamy. heidi_elizabeth, I'm sure I'll have you look over that for me. If you'd like, that is.

Untitled - Contemporary supernatural myster lesbian romance thing. Have some backstory, plot and characters. Have a little bit of an outline, but stopped because Word was fighting with me over outline formatting. Started writing the opening scene. Am still fighting with myself over certain characters and plot points.

Draka - Haven't done any work on this in a while. Have some backstory, some characters, some ideas for side-stories (one of which, if I can get it written, will be for a dragon call), but not enough to really amount to anything solid yet.

Shy'a Spell - Might be gaining some more wind on this. I'm going to try to finish (or at least get something substantial written on) WARS first, but after that I think I'll start writing all the Kiernan/Makan scenes. I'll see if that helps me get some more major work on this done. I've done more on this than I ever have on any previous project (not including fanfiction, though it might surpass that as well), and I will be very mad at myself if I don't get it in some semblance of finished before 2012. Just in case. >.>

Untitled - Horrid cat-shifting supernatural contemporary romance thing I will only unearth should reannon unearth her horrible fantasy thing.

Iris Print has rejected Once Upon a Time.

"Your story made it very far in the selection process, which is why it's taken so long to get an answer, but ultimately, I'm forced to pass on it. I loved the quirky tone of this piece, and the fairytale references, though I would have liked to see more development of the "twist" at the end--it's a very fun concept, and I felt it deserved more than the brief bit of exposition it received at the end. Thanks for your submission, and I hope you have a wonderful day!"

Part of me says, "Well that's why it's a TWIST, because you don't see it coming!" But the rest of me agrees with her, because I really love the ending and sort of wish I had expanded on it before I sent it in. Actually, considering, I suppose I REALLY wish I had expanded on it. Perhaps then it would have been accepted.

And while I suppose it's a little too much to ask for the busy editor of a growing small press, I wish that if that was the ONLY reason she rejected it, she'd given me the chance to revise and resubmit. I'd like to think I would, if someone submitted something to Circle Dark and I said something along those lines. Actually, I'd like to think that I would accept the story with the strong suggestion such revising be done. Especially if I liked it so well as she seems to have liked OUaT.

All I can really do it rework it anyway, and perhaps resubmit it to a future project with them where I think it might fit. I really don't think any other publisher would take it, except Circle Dark, but that's rather unfair. We're already pimping ourselves enough as it is. XD The rest of the anthology slots belong to other people.

In the end, I'm disappointed but not discouraged! I will forge onward!

Sorry for the inconvienience to the people who watched worldofelatae, all two of you. ^_^ That community name just really didn't fit the purpose of the community anymore, and you guys know me. It all has to match and stuffs.

So, here is the new location of my writing journal, under the proper community name. I reposted my last two posts from the old journal, but I'm not going to bother to repost the rest. It's just too much work, and I've got writing to do!

I FINALLY finished the outline for The Hakkan.

Yes, I know, it's taken me much longer than it should. It took me this long to get over the block I had when I couldn't decide if something should happen at that moment, or if I should save it for later.

The outline is a full nine pages. If I'd written anymore, it would have gone onto page ten.

The outline is for a prolog, twelve chapters, and an epilog. I must say, I'm surprised because the ending turned out a little different than I expected. I knew it wouldn't end WELL, and I was expecting a dark, tragic ending. Had several in mind, actually. But... well, it still doesn't have a happy ending, but it isn't particularly tragic, either. Mostly. It's more like that sort of real-life emotionally lukewarm ending that leaves you dissatisfied with life in general. Yeah, my outlines tend to be really detailed.

Now... perhaps I can actually continue work on this. The prolog is written but needs rewriting, BADLY. Chapter one is written. Chapter two is well on its way to being complete, I just need the motivation to continue. I'm hoping once I kick myself into finishing chapter two, then the momentum will pick up and I can churn out pages and pages of crap that I might be able to mold into something resembling gold.

The way the story ends, there's room for a sequel. There doesn't have to be one, but if I wanted to, I could write one. I might. Later. Not now. Once I finish this, it's on to lesbians, another kind fo slave story, and possibly dragons.

This is just a list of my projects, whether they're projects I'm actively working on, have on the back burner, or would one day like to write for the heck of it. They are in no particular order, really.

1) The Hakkan

2) Shy'a Spell (and all following books, including The Veiled Throne and To Walk the Shadows)

3) Draka

4) Fallen

5) Short story in the Draka-verse for the Kerlak dragon stories call? Maybe?

6) All short stories pertaining to Shy'a Spell, including "Compassion's Blade," "Niamh's Tears," and that suckily titled sequel to "The Savage Beast."

7) Perhaps a prequel to Shy'a Spell. Kiernan's story... if I can get him to talk. I won't hold my breath.

8) Untitled horrid romance novel. Shaddup, Heidi.

9) Untitled contemporary supernatural mystery lesbian romance thing.

10) One day I WILL finish Mended Wing and Ames Qui Dorment! But fanfiction is just the last thing on any list right now....