I’d like to say that I’m half finished Drawing Dead but I’d say it’s more like a third. I just can’t seem to hit that 5000 word mark. For me, 7500 seems like the sweet spot. Which isn’t bad but it’s not good either. I think short story magazines would prefer stories to be around 5000 words as they’d be easier to place.
Here’s the unedited opening:
Joe Varley considered himself lucky.
Things always seemed to go his way. He hit more green lights than red. He had never been struck by lightning, and his winning percentage for useless games of chance was well over sixty percent.
Some people didn’t believe in luck. They tried to distill it into a scientific notation, tried to objectify the notion that random probability only allowed for complete randomness.
Those people said that because they had no luck at all.
Joesph Varley knew that if he had good luck most times, that he’d have bad luck other times. Like now.
I’m tired. I just can’t shake this bug. I’ve been going to bed at 9pm every night (and of course Paige gets me up at 6:30am). I played hockey on Tuesday — should’ve skipped it. Oh well.
The house hasn’t been taking up too much of my time. I’ve hired a lot of good people, and luckily for us, John and Danielle really helped on the weekend. John did the painting while Danielle watched the kids (which thereby frees up time for us).
We don’t move for another two weeks now, which is a good thing. The kitchen is finished, the bedrooms should be finished this weekend, and the bathrooms in the next couple of weeks. Makes things much easier when we move into a house that is almost finished. And once we move in, I’ll have more time for writing — which is why I’m supposed to be doing all of this house flipping.
Share on Facebook
Uncategorized
Okay, I said October 20th I’d have my first short story done. And I do…sort of. The problem is that I’m not really moving in a linear direction. I’ve edited an old short story (Dance of the Dead), wrote a new one (The Sorcerer’s Wife) and have outlined a new story(Drawing Dead).
Plus I’ve jotted down two other ideas for Nathaniel (both prequels to the novel Curse of the Black Swan).
Now, thanks to Eileen and Bev, I’ve just about completed the second draft of The Sorcerer’s Wife. They really helped me tighten it up. Then it goes to the main writing group to be critiqued again — and in about a month I’ll hear back.
So you can see that the process takes two months from beginning to end.
Once everything is finished, I’ll be posting them on this site (for free). You just have to register and you can download them to your computer.
It’s also been a crazy busy month (as usual). Our closing date for our house has been moved back three weeks — which allows us 3 more weeks to work on the renos. If all goes well, by November 17th we’ll have all the heavy lifting over with (3 bathrooms, a kitchen, all drywall, plumbing, heating, and electrical). Then we’ll spend the next few months on landscaping, trim…the small details.
Share on Facebook
Uncategorized
Started on my newest short story today. Drawing Dead is a poker term.
Definition: When a player is drawing to a hand that has already been beaten — this final card is irrelevant because the player has already lost.
Joe Varley is a dead-beat. 37 years old, a bike courier for an internet disease-ordering company. When he inadvertantely gets added to an underworld game of poker, he has only one choice — cheat.
And what better way to cheat than to steal a deck of cards from the greatest cheat of them all: Apollo Limberopolous. The problem, of course, is that Apollo is dead — and his deck of cards has been buried with him.
All Joe Varley has to do is break into the cemetery, dig up the body, and steal the cards. What could possibly go wrong?
Share on Facebook
Uncategorized
How long have I been trying to find a home for my work? 8 years. 8 frickin years. Below is a rejection letter I received for Maw of the Defiler. This was the last true ‘feedback’ I received (which led me on the path of building characterization and voice)
May 12th, 1998
There’s no doubt the premises have potential, and I admire your ambition and intent. You’re a good writer, and you certainly have the sensibilities for a high fantasy. Therefore, it is with real regret that I’m passing on these. There is nothing inherently wrong with these, however, I fear the narrative approach didn’t strike an entirely responsive chord here. The excecution didn’t quite appeal as it should. I just never got a good sense of characters. Despite a strong opening (editors note: if only I could sustain those strong openings!), and repeated authorial ‘tellings’ of the conflicts between Luthar and Toris, the conflicts are not substantiated by the characters themselves. Part of the problem lies in telling and not showing the reader. We never get inside the minds and hearts of the protagonists, and when we do, they’re usually so self-focused, especially Luthar’s self-righteousness and personal prejudices, it’s difficult to see them as real people. Although both Toris and Luthar are champions of Purity against Corruption, I didn’t get a clear idea of what both men believe in, what they feared, how their feeling about each other and people aroudn them cahnge through their experience. If anything, I wasn’t entriely clear as to what this world is, who are these people, and why they’re invading or spying on each other.
Share on Facebook
Uncategorized
What’s the story with this site? Why are those silly things on the side of your page that lead me to believe I can buy books that don’t exist?
Well, just before Banff, I was thinking of self-publishing. I was going to offer my books over my website in both hard format (an actual book) and in e-format.
Rob Sawyer had several interesting comments on the subject of self-publishing and convinced me that instead of spending the time doing that, I should be spending my time editing and polishing my work to get it accepted at a big publishing house (what would you rather do: sell 200 copies or 10,000).
I’ve been so busy, however, that I haven’t had time to revamp the site.
Brian < a href="http://chronicology.com" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/chronicology.com?referer=');">Brian developed five sites for me…and instead of scrapping them, we’re going to keep them as marketing tools — but without the ability to buy my books.
I’ll be offering short stories, excerpts, and that type of thing…but staying away from the actual selling.
Share on Facebook
Uncategorized
Recent Comments