Author Topic: Listener's Writing Adventures (Read 148449 times)

Listener · **Reply #75 on:** November 12, 2008, 03:03:39 PM

Started a new story last night, "Greener". Basically, it's how sex changes in the near future (about 50 years from now) but relationships really don't. Title may change. Got about 3000 words. The title will probably change; it's a play on "the grass is greener".

Listener · **Reply #76 on:** November 13, 2008, 07:25:48 PM

Up to 4399 words on "Greener". Not sure yet if science/technology is going to play a major role in the ending, or if it'll just be a story that takes place in the future.

Listener · **Reply #77 on:** November 15, 2008, 07:28:08 PM

"Greener" is done. 7606 words. Futurism, sex, medicine, and relationships. Probably needs a little revision near the end, but I enjoyed most of it, and I think I managed to make at least one sex scene hot* without being explicit.

* - for certain values of "hot"

Listener · **Reply #78 on:** November 24, 2008, 06:53:40 PM

New story started. Not named yet. Involves migraines, death prediction, and using power for monetary gain. 891 words so far.

Listener · **Reply #79 on:** November 26, 2008, 11:32:28 AM

Those of you in the crit group will remember "The Princess and the Plumbers". Well, last night I had an idea for the next story in the "fractured video game" genre (think "fractured fairy tales"). It's called "A Star Above His Head". I'm sure you can guess what video game it's for.

I also finished Chapter One of the non-fiction book, which means all I have left to do on that end is a couple of appendices and I'm done. And then we go into revisions -- which don't have a hard deadline, so I don't have to worry about having them done by a certain date.

Listener · **Reply #80 on:** December 08, 2008, 05:20:50 PM

Still waiting to hear back from OSCIGMS on "113 Feet".

Need to edit "Greener" so I can post it here.

My migraine story is still only 1000 words done.

Have not begun entering edits for Shell Game, but I'll do that while I'm on disability leave (got surgery coming up in the next 45 days or so).

Need to edit "Bittersweet Symphony" too.

Listener · **Reply #81 on:** December 09, 2008, 06:07:00 PM

Edited "Greener". It's now in the Crit Group.

Finished Appendices A and B of the non-fiction book. Now just need to do C and E and I'm done with it (except for the editing, but they're paying me to hand the chapters in, and then edit over the next few months).

Listener · **Reply #82 on:** December 23, 2008, 03:15:52 AM

"The Next Time Around", a sci-fi/fantasy love story, is finished. 4206 words including the brief dedication. Will do some editing, then post in the crit group. It's a bit too wish-fulfillment-y to get sold, I think, but there's bound to be a SF/F/Romance collection coming out sometime that could benefit.

Send me a PM if you want a preview; I'll googleshare it with you.

No other progress in any other writing at this time.

Listener · **Reply #83 on:** December 25, 2008, 09:51:50 PM

Finished first round of edits on "The Next Time Around". Now I have to type them in.

Had a semiprofessional writer (she's published, at any rate, though we were friends before she scored her first publishing credits) review "Greener" and she didn't find any major flaws in it. Still waiting to see what the crit group says about it before revising again and submitting.

That was a hint.

Still waiting to hear back from the Intergalactic Medicine Show on "113 Feet" -- according to my calendar, my follow-up date with them is 1/28/09, just after I get back from medical leave, so that works out fairly well.

While I'm out of work in January, I plan to input all my edits on "Shell Game".

Listener · **Reply #84 on:** December 30, 2008, 01:52:22 PM

Submitted "The Next Time Around" to Crossed Genres (crossedgenres.com).

Listener · **Reply #85 on:** January 02, 2009, 03:34:00 AM

Started a steampunk/clockpunk/mystery story. Already up to 2542 words, and we haven't even gotten into WHY there's a mystery. This could end up being a novella or even a novel, even though I only planned it to be a short-story. But I still have to pull a minor reveal of my character's appearance, and also a couple of other things about him.

It's set in a very wintry Seattle, Washington; not sure of the date yet. Hasn't become important to the story. I'm guessing 1920s, after the First World War, but the geopolitical (is that the right word) landscape is different than what it was back then -- specifically, Russia never sold Alaska to the US, and they probably (haven't decided) took over/occupied much of western Canada. Washington is part of the US, but think of it in the same way the border towns on the Rio Grande are thought of -- American, but with lots of immigrants, illegal and legal, from the other side, although these immigrants are Russian, not Mexican.

Not quite sure how it's going to end, or who the ultimate bad guy is going to be, but I'm having fun writing it so far.

Listener · **Reply #86 on:** January 02, 2009, 06:24:55 AM

The story is now up to 6691 words, and has a title:

"The Clockwork Russian: A John Bach Mystery"

Interestingly, it's not going the direction I envisioned. In fact, I think the Clockwork Russian himself has made his last appearance in dialogue; the next time we see him, I think he's going to be dead. Not 100% sure yet.

Zathras · **Reply #87 on:** January 02, 2009, 06:59:32 AM

Feel free to google share anything with me. I'm not a writer or a professional critic, but I do enjoy good sci-fi.

Listener · **Reply #88 on:** January 02, 2009, 11:03:07 AM

Thanks. I think this one's going to end up on the Crit Group when I finish it. Though I do still have a story on there that no one's actually critiqued yet. *cough cough*

Listener · **Reply #89 on:** January 03, 2009, 12:31:18 AM

It's been 24 hours. I've written 11,000 words on "The Clockwork Russian". Maybe 50-60% done.

Listener · **Reply #90 on:** January 04, 2009, 04:41:22 AM

"The Clockwork Russian: A John Bach Mystery", the first of at least four stories starring that character, is done.

Word count: 17,989

I made it a point to finish this story before my surgery, and I've done that. 2500 words Thursday night, another 4000 in the early-morning hours Friday, about 3000 during the course of the day at work Friday, and then the last 7000 or so tonight, from 8pm to 11:30pm.

I'll probably print a copy at work on Monday so I can do my first round of edits before I send it out for critiques. I guess I'm calling this a novelette, because after I edit it it'll probably drop below 17,500. But it's an awfully-long novelette.

Listener · **Reply #91 on:** January 05, 2009, 02:42:03 PM

Submitted "Greener" to Futurismic to get it in before I go into surgery. I've only revised it once, so it could probably use a little work, but when Futurismic opens submissions, waiting around is NOT recommended.

Listener · **Reply #92 on:** January 08, 2009, 09:51:56 PM

"Greener" was rejected, but the editor did say he thought it was well-written. He said no because the sci-fi was too secondary to the relationship part of the story -- which was what I intended. Great turnaround time, though... three days...

Meanwhile, both my parents have read "The Clockwork Russian" and seemed to enjoy it.

Listener · **Reply #93 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:29:41 AM

Finished the first round of edits on paper for "The Clockwork Russian". Now I have to type them in; probably going to do that tomorrow. As someone who hasn't written a lot of noir fiction, I'm hoping that the way I tied the ending together works for other people, or else I'll probably have to add more scenes and this will really become a novella. My goal is for it NOT to exceed 20,000 words (25,000 at the absolute most); right now it's at about 18,000.

Listener · **Reply #94 on:** January 20, 2009, 04:03:58 PM

Input the first round of edits for The Clockwork Russian. Will post to the Crit Group in a few minutes.

Listener · **Reply #95 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:25:08 PM

"The Next Time Around" was rejected from Crossed Genres. They said I made the short list, which is nice. So is the under-one-month response time.

Listener · **Reply #96 on:** January 27, 2009, 12:43:44 PM

"113 Feet" -- rejected by the Intergalactic Medicine Show due to length (they SAID they take stories that long, but in the letter they said they are closed to submissions over 10,000 due to overload... *shrug*)

"Shell Game" -- working on Ch 3-6 today, which require some serious rewriting

"Clockwork Russian" -- still waiting for more input from crit group *ahem*

Listener · **Reply #97 on:** January 27, 2009, 10:58:34 PM

Input handwritten edits from Chapters 3-13 of "Shell Game" today. Will finish tomorrow or Thursday.

bluerequiem · **Reply #98 on:** January 28, 2009, 08:46:22 PM

Where is this crit group you keep winking at? I'd be glad to help critique when needed.

Listener · **Reply #99 on:** January 30, 2009, 04:18:37 PM

Quote from: bluerequiem on January 28, 2009, 08:46:22 PM

Where is this crit group you keep winking at? I'd be glad to help critique when needed.

http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=58.0 -- it's the Escape Artists Writer's Group hosted on the forums. If you can't get in, go to The Writing Forum and find the thread about it so you can PM the moderator (Therinth, I think is how she spells her name).

Author Topic: Listener's Writing Adventures (Read 148449 times)

Zathras