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September 28, 2005
Little Known Author Seeks Tiny Bit of Advice
I'm pretty happy with the way this site looks. I keep meaning to add a list of links to the other fab places I visit, but have been distracted with Book Woes for what feels like forever.
One thing I would like is for the email link I've added over on the sidebar to be in the same font as the body of these blog entries. I've stared and stared at the stylesheet for this blog, and I'm damned if I can figure out how to do this. If there's a simple way to do this I'd be much obliged. There might even be a shiny space cookie in it for the lucky assistant.
Thanks!
Posted by adrian at 06:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
At Last! Giant Squid Photographed in the Wild!
When I first started this site more than three years ago, I think my second or third post was titled, "When in doubt, go with monster sea life". I couldn't think of anything to post at the time, and I was very new to blogging, so was casting about for a topic. Then I came across a story about some fishermen who'd hauled up the dead carcass of a giant squid, and I wrote about that.
Giant squid are fascinating bastards. Immense in size, patrolling about in extremely deep water, watching everything with their giant eyes--and nobody had ever seen a live one going about its business. The only specimens we had were dead ones washed up on beaches, or caught by fishermen. Sometimes dead whales would be found which sported tentacle sucker marks along their flanks, evocatively suggesting mighty battles between whale and squid far down in the deeps.
And then, today, I get not one but two emails, one from Awesome Former Editor Cheyenne, and from Equally Awesome Friend Alethea, both pointing me to a news story claiming that the giant squid had for the first time ever been caught on film in the wild.
Well, bugger me! Phwoar!
I went, I clicked, I gaped in wonder. Expressions such as, "Crikey, look at that!" were heard. Even Michelle, when I told her about it, was gobsmacked. It's a little bit like actually getting pictures of a real dragon, or the Loch Ness Monster. Wow!
Now you too, if you haven't already, can go forth and be amazed at this mighty tentacular horror! Link and Link
Big thanks to Cheyenne and Alethea for the tips!
Posted by adrian at 06:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 26, 2005
Day 36: Author Boy on Holiday; Still Tinkering
Michelle's fortnight holiday starts today, so I'm taking a break as well. All the same today I spent a couple of hours downloading a heap of new notes and ideass for UMBRA that burst unannounced into my head late last night, keeping from sleeping. By the time I got it all down it turned out to be more than 1700 words just of notes, and included lots of material for the middle act of the story, and some promising ideas for what should happen beyond that.
Currently the manuscript itself is up to 38,500 words, but once I get back to the scribble it looks like I'll be cutting about 3500 words, which cover events that now need extensive changes. This rewriting effort over the past couple of weeks has been going well, and has resulted in significant improvements in the story that I'm pretty happy about.
I realise this is hardly the most exciting thing to read about. Then again, I'm feeling rather excited about all the new developments.
I will probably be posting here and there during this week about probably non-writing-related stuff.
Posted by adrian at 06:35 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
Day 33: Rewrites in Progress
I've got a nasty bloody headache grinding away right now, but earlier this arvo I was fine, and got loads of scribble in. Some 1600 words later, UMBRA continues to shape up. Today was spent mainly adding a great big chunk, including a couple of scenes, in one particular chapter where it needed more coverage of the frustrations and problems Our Hero is facing, and that in turn means tomorrow there will be at least one more all-new scene, and probably the cutting of another key scene to make it much better.
So. New total is 36,700 words. Not sure if I can reach 40,000 by Friday, but it would be sweet to do so.
Posted by adrian at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Day 32: Author Boy's New Book Out Now! W00t!
It might be already the 20th of September here in Oz, but I know that in Canada, at least for a while yet, it is the 19th, and this is a big deal to me because as of today, my new novel, ECLIPSE, is available in stores and from the publisher. It will be released in the US next March. As for when it shows up here in Perth, or in the rest of Australia, well who knows? I know that the proprietors of a new specialist sf bookshop here have said they will be stocking it, so I guess it's only a matter of time.
All the same: I got a new book out! W00t! [dances in chair] It's a good'un, too, if I say so myself. My best work, at least up to the point when I wrote (and rewrote) it. I'm currently thinking of interviewing myself or something, to get the publicity ball rolling.
* * *
In other Author Boy news, today and yesterday I've been reading through the UMBRA manuscript so far. The dreadful doubts I've been telling you about have been biting hard, so I thought it best to go in and have a look at the actual words and see if the worries and doubts were justified.
As it happens, as of where I'm up to, not too much. There were some bits that needed cutting, and other bits that needed expanding upon or changed entirely, and the result as of tonight is that the MS is up to 35,000 words, and feels more solid than it did. The character's behaviour and thinking is more consistent with what he's about. So that's all good. I still have to work on making different characters sound like different people (a problem I've always had with writing dialogue), but I can retrofit that stuff in later. It's more important to get across the gist of what people say than how they say it.
* * *
I've had some real doozy headaches in recent times (another reason you haven't heard from me). Today's visit to the physiotherapist has helped with that, I'm hoping. What is also likely to help is that as of next week, the lovely Michelle is on two weeks holidays! And for almost one week of that we're zipping down to scenic Mandurah! All the scuttling crabs, graceful pelicans, cavorting dolphins, sparkling estuary water and cranky seagulls--and fabulous coffee and food--one could hope for! Should be a lovely rest for both of us.
* * *
Last, of course, September 19 is/was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I'm a little late to the party, but well, arrrrh!
UPDATE 21 September: And here are 160 photos of various piratical folks having way too much fun, via Flickr!
Posted by adrian at 07:14 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 14, 2005
Cheyenne's Parents are Missing
Longtime readers of this blog will remember the epic struggles of long ago, when Cheyenne Grewe was an editor with Edge SF and Fantasy Publishing, and she and I went at it, trying to fix up what ultimately became ORBITAL BURN. Cheyenne did a hell of a job on the book, above and beyond the call of duty. Today she's got a very serious problem. I'm posting details about her situation here, with her permission, because most people who read this blog are in either Western Canada or the Pacific Northwest. Even if you can't help, you might know someone who could, or you might have ideas on where else Cheyenne could find help. Here's hoping.
She explains the situation better than I could, so I'm handing over to her.
My parents have been missing for a week. No one knows where they are and we have not been able to get in contact with them despite them having a cellphone. They didn't leave me or anyone else in my family any information about where they were going or when they would be back. All we know is that on approximately September 6 they were in Hope, BC. I am worried sick. It is extremely unusual for them to be out of contact with us for so long. I MUST locate my parents immediately! I will be going to the RCMP and contacting the border crossings in the morning. Most of you don't live anywhere near where they could be but if you know ANYONE in BC or the Pacific Northwest who could keep an eye out for the motorhome in the attached photo, I really need the help!I don't yet have the license plate number (something else they neglected to give me) but I will have it by tomorrow. They could be anywhere in BC, including Vancouver Island. There is a possibility that they may have traveled from Hope to the Canada-US border and are somewhere in Washington, possibly even Oregon. It is extremely unusual for them to be so long out of contact even though they are on vacation.
It is doubly important that I locate my parents because today we have had a death in the family and my mother is the only one with the appropriate emergency information needed to deal with this death. I need them to come home right away!
My mother's name is Lorraine. She is 51 years old, approximately 5'7" with short brown-red (copper?) hair, blue eyes. She is slightly overweight. My mother cannot drive the RV.
My father's name is Manny. He is 53 years old, approximately 5'10" with thinning dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a moustache. He requires corrective lenses to drive (prescription sunglasses during the day, regular lenses at night).
Any help you can give is greatly appreciated. Please email or call (403) 618-3343 if someone you know has seen my parents' RV.PLEASE DO NOT CALL OTHERWISE. I NEED TO KEEP MY LINE FREE AND I DO NOT HAVE VOICEMAIL OR CALL WAITING. I will hang up if you do not have any info.
UPDATE 15/9/2005
It seems Cheyenne has now located her parents; they were on Vancouver Island. I'm sure it's a huge relief for all concerned.
Posted by adrian at 11:26 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 09, 2005
Day 25: Doubt Management
UMBRA cracks 30,000 words, a hitherto undreamed of height of text, and suddenly, like one of those Warner Bros cartoon characters, realises where it is, and how far along it is, and goes, "Holy Crap!"
Don't panic. That's the main thing I'm telling myself about the story at the moment. I mentioned in my previous post that I was starting to experience ominous doubts about the whole thing. Well, since then, these doubts have been getting out of hand, a little, to the point where I've been employing very secure boxes to contain these unruly anxieties, and keep them out of my way while I try to go about my scribbly business. The goal is still to finish this book, one way or another. I'm not fully convinced it will be a good book, an equal with ECLIPSE, but right now I'm more interested in finishing a book, any book, that I'll wait until it's done before deciding its ultimate fate. I keep thinking about Tor Editor David Hartwell's great line to anxious would-be authors: "Don't reject your own book. That's my job!"
Okay, fine. So I've been scribbling along while engaged in what I'm calling "doubt management": trying to keep it all under some kind of control. My psych doc, meanwhile, to whom I explained all this today, told me this was all wrong. I should not worry at all about whether or not this particular book was good enough, or sellable enough, or any of that. I should just have fun with it. I don't have a contract for it (which is true, so no deadlines are involved), so it doesn't matter if this one is a screw-up. Ideally speaking there's no pressure at all, other than my own desire to get a book done. This, my doc was trying to tell me, in his own unique way (he has a love of strange metaphors; today's was about grinding photographic lenses), is the wrong attitude.
Experiment, goof off, try stuff, have fun. To illustrate his point, he said I should suppose, for example, I had a character who could only walk on ceilings. Startled by the idea, I immediately started thinking about such a character, and what his or her life might be like, and saw all kinds of humourous possibilities, and said so. The doc pointed at me, and said that sense of fun was exactly what was missing. I should be thinking more like that than instead thinking of producing another book. I thought, hmm, the guy's got a point.
How I go about implementing this idea, I don't know. It's something to think about, though.
* * *
And, God knows, I need distracting lately. During the part of each day that I allot to reading blogs and other stuff online, I have been reading a lot of coverage of the Katrina aftermath. I'm finding that I'm experiencing this constant, rising howl of outrage in my head, and the more I read, the worse it gets--and the worse things get, the more the howling rises. Now, after a couple of weeks of reading about tens of thousands of people in the worst trouble one can imagine, and a city destroyed, and a regional environment that will be saturated with so much toxic crap that cleaning it up presents unimaginable difficulties, my head's about ready to explode. It's been very difficult indeed trying to focus on my little book project.
So, yes, I could use a distraction. Distractions are good. Meanwhile, we're sending money.
Posted by adrian at 09:08 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
September 01, 2005
Day 17-19: Getting Somewhere At Last
Author Boy surprised himself these past few days by making steady progress on the book at a time when he was starting to have doubts about it. The sort of doubt that in the last year has led to book projects dying. The sort of doubt that makes you wonder what the hell you think you're doing.
The transition point I've been banging on about for a while now, where the ECLIPSE narrative slips into the UMBRA narrative, has proved more tricky than I expected, but I think I'm largely through that now, and I'm making fairly decent progress, as the characters start to cope (or not--heh!) with the enormity of what's happened to them. More interestingly, my android protagonist is finding that the extensive training he received in dealing with people and their odd quirks wasn't quite thorough enough. One character has just killed himself, for example--something Our Hero, all of about three weeks old at this point, can't comprehend. At such moments I feel most like I've got a solid handle on the protagonist's character.
I'm finding him a strange guy to write about, because he has no backstory, no emotional context, no strange family and no real experience of anything. He's been put through very elaborate simulations of human life and interaction, but it's no substitute for real life, and the behaviour of real people. His bewilderment and fear and horror (notably over this suicide, for example) are challenging. All my previous protagonists have these colourful background histories, which helps enormously in developing their characters. This guy, by contrast, is like a little kid in many respects--but also something like the sociopathic Meursault (I think I spelled that right) in Albert Camus' The Outsider, who has no feelings, and doesn't give a crap about anything. My guy's reactions are often a result of him wondering what the correct response should be to a given situation, and worrying about people finding out about his Great Big Secret--and knowing that at least one person on the ship already knows, and is keen on killing him.
So, right now I'm up to 26,200 words--3000 words of which I did just today. This is very encouraging indeed.
* * *
All of which seems like such utter fatuousness, compared with the news from America this week. I'm watching the telly, and reading newsfeeds, just like I did during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 (the best single place for information and news about the unfolding catastrophe is here at Making Light). The thing that troubles me most about this post-Katrina period is that I gather the hurricane season runs until November. That's a lot of time for more hurricanes, perhaps just like Katrina, to show up and lay waste to the land. Not that it has anything at all even remotely to do with global warming, of course. [slaps forehead]
Posted by adrian at 09:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack