August 30th: Draft Begins
…in which sleepers, dreamers, and the young approach a dark and uncertain future.
Stefan Gagne's Fiction Factory
25+ years of novels, games, and other creative fiascos.
August 30th: Draft Begins
…in which sleepers, dreamers, and the young approach a dark and uncertain future.
Let’s all go to the lobby, to get ourselves a treat…
We’re coming up on the big finale of City of Angles. Not just the end of a chapter, or even the end of a book, but the end of the series. That’s one hell of a milestone, and with it will come change. Drastic change. I figured I’d step back a second and review how I expect things to go. This is entirely subject to change, understand.
FIRST, //025 will be posted over the course of many weeks. I was going to take this weekend off, but I got a creative fire lit under my butt and that means you will in fact be getting some of the last chapter tomorrow.
NEXT, I’ll post a reader poll so you can help me decide my future direction. I do this after every book and it’s a lot of fun to participate! Your response will be anonymous, naturally.
SHORTLY AFTER, I’ll be finalizing all the drafts of the chapters to date. This way I can give my awesome editor LoopyChu something to chew on.
AFTER THAT, I’ll be writing the two retail-only bonus stories. These act as a coda for the entire series; one takes place 15 years after the finale, the other takes place 716 years after the finale. (First person to guess WHY this is the case and back it up with proof for why specifically 716 years gets a free copy of the book on release.)
AFTER AFTER THAT, my editor polishes up those two bonus stories while I compile the book.
AND FINALLY, the book goes on sale.
This means there will be a considerable gap in time between the final story going up and the book going on sale. I expect to have it out this year, but the website will go dormant in the meanwhile. I intend to be updating my blog and starting a few random topics for discussion meanwhile, but even so… I beseech you to keep tabs on what’s up rather than wander off and forget it exists. Follow my Twitter, follow Tumblr, subscribe to the blog’s mailing list, load up the RSS feed, whatever it takes. I don’t wanna lose any readers during the downtime.
AND ULTIMATELY, FINALLY, SOMETIME LIKELY IN 2015… a new writing series will launch. Another good reason to keep an eye out. You’ll want to be on the ground floor, after all.
That’s the overall shape of the future. Specifics to come. Good things to come. Thank you for supporting me this far, and I look forward to seeing you on the flipside. New CoA content goes up tomorrow!
I’ll warn this is a very personal post. If you just want to consume my writing and enjoy it, the following words are not required reading. No harm, no foul.
This week has been rough on me. But not me, personally, no. The world hasn’t directed any venom and ire in my specific direction, so technically speaking I should be sitting pretty on top of a pile of good vibes right now. And yet… I’m not. The only reason we have any story for you to read tomorrow at all is because I was able to pull myself together DESPITE feeling down in the dumps lately.
No, no. The world hasn’t hurt me directly. But has done so indirectly. The world has let me down.
I was indirect witness to two wildly different yet oddly similar incidents in which humanity exposed its ugly underbelly for all to see. Namely: the horrific racism and systemic abuse of law going on down in Ferguson, and there’s the unending campaign of hatred and malice being poured on the head of Zoe Quinn, independent game developer. One offline, one online. One against a race, another against a gender. One physical, one psychological. But both are rooted in fear, hatred, and ultimately… bullying.
(Before you decide to lead the charge with flaming sword and war steed right into my comments section to say that Michael or Zoe deserve what they have coming to them… do yourself a favor. Turn right around and never come back here again. I know I only have a dozen or so readers, but I can stand to shed any that stand firmly on the neck of others.)
But I’m not here in my personal blog to talk the particulars about either of those. No, it’s not these incidents and the exact details of them that drove my mood into the toilet this week. It’s something larger than that.
I’m sitting here writing a story about another tyrannical bully — the Citadel — representing a seemingly unstoppable force that always gets what it wants. They are the rule of law gone too far, determined to bring all in line with their thinking or else. In my story, the essential core of human spirit struggles to push back against that kind of bullying. That’s City of Angles. But… the world is continually reminding me that, well… that’s not the reality of the situation, is it? Flashy heroics do nothing. In reality, the bullies tend to win.
What I’m writing feels disconnected, as a result. An escapist fantasy, where we can ultimately triumph over generations of fear and loathing. Where women like Marcy can walk the streets at night looking for tagging opportunities without a worry. Where Penelope can run a blog online where she’s got opinions and she doesn’t get tarred and feathered by a fedora wearing brigade. Where Milly can be cyberbullied but empathically turn it around to make the accuser into an ally. All lovely sentiments which do not reflect what IS, merely what I WISH was. Reality, this week at least, has been hammering home the point that No, That’s Not How Things Work.
I’d like to think that intellectually, I know tolerance and cohesion of community will win out in the long run. Humanity can overcome, can unite, can become something greater. But it’s tough to feel that in the face of incidents like this. Like the hippies of the sixties who saw their peaceful movement collapse, and became uncaring stockbrokers as a result… it’s disheartening.
I know I shouldn’t take this personally. I’m a straight white male, and despite technically being in a minority (disability) I have it good. None of these things really impacts me. And yet, I feel them. I feel them deep down, the injustice, the frustration, the sense of futility. As much as I know I shouldn’t internalize all that, some weeks it’s difficult not to, particularly when I’m trying to write about a world with similar conflicts but different resolutions.
I’ll still finish City of Angles. I managed to write a spectacular finale for //024 which you’ll be reading tomorrow; it’s got the flavor of optimism that I wanted. I won’t change one bit of my plans; the ending will be triumphant. (Hardly a spoiler, that.) But I figured I’d get words down on digital paper all the same, to explain why it’s been difficult. See you tomorrow.
August 18th: Draft Continues
…in which the author hurriedly posts a bunch of fixes on a Monday to make scenes better because why not.
August 16th: Draft Continues
(Note: This section may be revised and revamped next week.)
…in which infinite potential crashes against finite minds, true faces are exposed, and old friends aren’t greeted.
Recently, someone suggested I set up forums, so folks who enjoy my stories can chat about things other than… well, my stories. After all, if you’re all fans of my writing, odds are good you’ve got more in common than just my writing. Great minds think alike, and all.
This got me thinking… now that I’m trying to divide usage of my blog between random interesting blog content and story updates, why not use some of that random interesting blog content to set up targeted chatter with the community? Use the comments on a post to discuss a topic, or just yammer at each other. And thus: TalkyTime.
These posts are designed to kick off discussion between you folks, rather than specifically me and you. I toss a question out there and you tell us your thoughts, feelings, opinions, etc. Get out there and make yourself heard!
Today it’s a pretty simple topic. “And you are…?” Who are you? Introduce yourself! Plug your own work, it’s fine! Let’s get to know each other. We’re more than bits in a database or letters arranged into words, after all. So: Hi! Hello! How are you? Let’s talk.
August 9th: Draft Continues
…in which an artistic challenge is met with forced gusto, old movies are a bonding element, and we’re not in Kansas anymore.
The times, they are a changin’.
Normally, every single Saturday morning, I post a blog post which serves two purposes; to link to the latest story scenes, and to discuss some topic or another. There’s a lot of problems with this:
So, I’m gonna shuffle things up some. Now, blog posts will be either my own personal rants on writing and games and life and so on, or simple posts with links to story updates. They won’t be both simultaneously.
This way, I don’t feel obliged to go on at length about nothing just to pad out a blog post, I don’t feel obliged to restrain my blogging to only Saturdays, and it’s clear what is and is not a story update. Everybody wins. Particularly me. Go me.
As always, posts of any type — be they rants or story updates — will go in the RSS feed, the mailing list, my social media updates, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. No matter what in-road from the Internet you prefer, you’ll get it all. And hopefully, it’ll be better organized as a result.
Whaddya think? Good, bad, suggestions? Comment away!
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me, folks. Crazy health issues, insanity on the dayjob front, and more. I took last week off to try and stay on top of it all — well, no, I took last week off so I could have a break, and then life decided to fill my break with horror to try and stay on top of. So the end result is basically no break to speak of.
But I’m in the home stretch on this here book thing. I’ve got four chapters to go… two main chapters, two bonus chapters. Won’t be long now. I want to get this project finished not because I tire of it but because I’m so close to completion and I’m eager to hold the final shape of it in my hand.
With that in mind, I decided to post this week’s update a day early. Here’s //024: Little Monsters, starring the two least likely protagonists imaginable.
Got nothin’ else to say. Kind of an empty blog post except to complain about the universe pooping all over my face lately, but hey. Better to focus your feedback on the story itself.