FINALLY!!!

How I currently feel

If any of you were wondering where I've been for the last month or so, I've been writing and writing and writing (and writing) -- slogging my way through the last few chapters of my 2009 NaNo effort, "Caden Brave". Well, today, I did it. I typed the closing words of my first draft. FINALLY!

Mind you, this is only the first draft, but now the hard part is over. I'm going to file it away for a month or so and get caught up on the skillions of other things I'm working on to get work. Then I'll pick it back up and start with the fixes, the part of writing that I truly enjoy.

The first draft closing stats: Caden Brave, A middle grade space opera, 66553 words/307 pages.

One more time...FINALLY!!!

"Odd and the Frost Giants" by Neil Gaiman - Mini Review

This chapter book is much more sparse in style than the usual fare from Neil Gaiman. Absent is the expected meticulous development and overall cleverness that make his other works such a delight to read. It is for younger kids so maybe he didn't feel the need to work out the story and character the way he usually does.

"Odd and the Frost Giants" is a simple tale about an unlucky boy back in the days of the Vikings who comes to the aid of Odin, Thor, and Loki as they try to take back Asgard from a crafty Frost Giant.

Considering Gaiman's superb writing skill, I think he should have taken what is really a sketchy short story and developed it into a full middle grade novel with a satisfying plot and main character arc. As the narrative raced past plot points at breakneck speed I found myself wishing he had taken the time to do just that.

In short, while "Odd" is better than many titles in this niche, I just didn't get my Neil Gaiman fix off this one.

Awesome Screenplay Now Available for Bidding War!

Uh, yeah. Sure. We'll get back to you on that.

Anyway... just completed an exhaustive rewrite of last April's Script Frenzy project "Nick of Time" and sent it off to the agent. I put a lot of work into getting it as close to "just right" as I could and in general, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. As I've mentioned before, I think it would make a fun flick -- either as effects-laden live action or as an animated flick in the style of "Howl's Moving Castle". It's kid-centric sci fi. Anybody know anyone at Studio Ghibli?

I should probably participate in next month's Frenzy, but the act of just having "finished" a screenplay and the desire to concentrate on completing the first draft of my 2009 NaNo manuscript are making me hesitate. You can also do TV scripts, comic books, and stage plays as part of the challenge so maybe I'll try one of those. We'll see.

In other news, Popcornopolis' Zebra Chocolate is the new crack.

Onward!

Novel News

Got a nice bit of good news the other day. My novel "Leonard the Great" has moved to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award thanks to this pitch:

"If you think it was all good deeds and fancy ideals back in the days of Camelot, think again. Most people don’t know this, but for a time things went seriously bad; Arthur was imprisoned, Merlin had vanished, and a vile demon had taken over the throne.

Young Leonard Albacore would have been shocked to learn any of this but right now all that concerned him was where his next meal was coming from. As page to Sir Ronald, a poor but kind knight, events at the castle took a back seat to a rumbling stomach.

Oh sure, he held a secret dream that one day Sir Ronald would take a seat at the Round Table, but seriously, that was about as likely as Maid Glennys seeing him as anyone other than the dirty page of a low-ranking nobleman. Not gonna happen.

Everything changes when Leonard meets Mantooth, a seriously depressed dragon who’s looking for a knight to end his misery with a swing of a broadsword.

Wait a minute. If the dragon will allow Sir Ronald to slay him, his misery would be over, Sir Ronald would surely get a Round Table invite for such a brave deed, and Leonard might even climb a notch or two in the eyes of Glennys! Everybody wins, right?

Wrong. Leonard’s plan backfires horribly when, on the day of the battle, Sir Ronald is arrested for “bravery without a license” and he and Mantooth are dragged off to Camelot’s dungeons. Now Leonard must do whatever it takes to free his master even if that means doing battle with dangerous monsters, trying to outwit Camelot’s dark overlord, or even taking a bath!"

Next, the judges will read manuscript excerpts from all those who made the cut and choose some to move on to the Quarterfinals. It's a huge long shot, but hopefully they'll like mine.

Prayers, positive vibes, and finger crossings on Leonard's behalf are more than welcome. Thanks!

Update: Leonard didn't make it to the third round of ABNA, but he did get farther than he did last year so I can't complain.

Oh, So This is What He Looks Like!

I asked my very talented resident artist Molly to come up with a visualization for the title character of "Leonard the Great". Happily, she agreed. Pretty cool, huh?

"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman - Mini Review

Textbook example of the book being MUCH better than the movie -- not for the usual reason of "imagination versus visual reality" but because of superior storytelling ability.

"Stardust", the book, is a great tale told in Gaiman's signature style. Full of wry, sometimes dark humor, fun characters (drawn much deeper than their cartoonish film counterparts), and a more subtle and satisfying plot. All of this adds up to unquestioned literary supremacy over the weaker silverscreen adaptation.

Tristran Thorn lives in the English village of Wall -- a place noted for a large impassable barrier that separates our world from the vast magical land known as Faerie. Tristran witnesses a falling star one night and brashly vows to bring it to the most beautiful girl in the village, in hopes of winning her heart. Entering Faerie through a gap in the Wall, Tristran undertakes his star quest, encountering all manner of magical creatures along the way and ultimately discovering that both he and his "heart's desire" are not what or who they appear to be.

If you haven't read the book and were put off by the silliness of the film (anyone who knows the Captain's "secret" knows what I'm talking about), I suggest you take the plunge anyway and pick up a copy of this fun read. Recommended."

"Without Warning" by John Birmingham - Mini Review

Described as a work of "alternate fiction", John Birmingham's "Without Warning" falls just inside the realm of science fiction, barely meeting that category description because of a deadly and unknown phenomenon that has scientists baffled.

A techno/political/military thriller in the best tradition of authors like Michael Crichton and John Clancy, it's a grand "what if" mash up that asks, "What would happen if the United States and much of North America was essentially wiped clean by some sort of mysterious energy wave?"

Naturally, the obvious haters are elated by this new development, but soon even they begin to rethink the benefits of living in a world without Pax Americana.

The story itself is a series of vignettes following the reactions of a group of drug smugglers, our surviving overseas military, a lethal assassin, and a lowly Seattle city engineer to the reality that America, with all her warts and beauty, no longer exists. Birmingham masterfully weaves the seemingly unconnected story lines together in a way that makes the book hard to put down. The first installment of a proposed trilogy, "Without Warning" is highly recommended.

"The Hostile Takeover Trilogy" by S. Andrew Swann - Mini Review

This whopper of a trilogy ("Profiteer", "Partisan", "Revolutionary") follows two brothers as they battle over Bakunin - an outlaw planet of congenital individualists located in the heart of the vast Confederacy. As the title hints, Bakunin is crawling with various corporations, each of which is a power unto itself, right down to having their own security forces which more closely resemble national armies.

Dominic Magnus, a Bakunin CEO, and his brother Klaus, an agent of the Confederacy's covert operations branch, have had a lethal beef with each other going back to the death of their mother years ago. At first Dominic thinks Klaus' showing up with an invading force and taking over his corporation is just a continuation of their whole Cain and Abel dance, but we soon learn that the brothers are merely proxies for forces far greater then themselves. There is intrigue galore in these stories which, to me, give a hint of the Machiavellian politics that flavored the Italian renaissance.

I'll admit that it takes a while to get into the dense narrative of these books, but I recommend sticking with them as once you tag who's who and what's what, you're in for an enjoyable ride. Recommended.

Neil Gaiman Profile

The New Yorker is running a fascinating profile of Neil Gaiman, easily one of my very favorite living authors. Here's an interesting pull quote that touches on an aspect of children's publishing that's been bugging me for some time:

"...when he showed an early draft to an editor in 1991, he was told it was unpublishable: far too frightening for kids. (Gaiman maintains that adults are more afraid of “Coraline” than children are.)"

Unpublishable. Yup. Here's hoping that Gaiman's popularity and high sales will help editors rethink silly notions about what constitutes a literary threat "to the children". I loved "dark tales" as a boy and have a sneaking suspicion that kids these days still do.

A Shout Out to My Fans in Snezhinsk

I occasionally get requests from nice folks in faraway lands.

Hello! Happy New Year! My name is Aleksey. I live in Russia in city Snezhinsk. Our city very small and on it for me a great honor to write to you. I am very much very much the great admirer of your activity. In our city there is a fan club of your name. Very much I ask you to send me by mail your photo and your autograph. Very much it would be would be desirable that the autograph nominal on my name. This you will make me the happiest man! Please!!! After all very not to be easy during our heavy time the happy man. Very much I hope for you! I wish you creative successes and health! With the big respect and hope, Aleksey

Although the actual details of my "activity" are a little vague, I'm delighted there is a group dedicated to it. Perhaps a visit to this showcase of the Russian nuclear program is in order the next time I sell a book.

"Eternals" by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by John Romita Jr. - Mini Review

Author Neil Gaiman and artist John Romita Jr. team up to resuscitate Jack Kirby's 1970's Marvel classic.

The Eternals are an offshoot of the human race, created and imbued with extraordinary powers by the god-like Celestials. Their job is to stand watch over humanity until the Celestials return. But something has gone wrong and the Eternals have somehow forgotten who they are.

We watch as they struggle with their new roles as ordinary human beings -- a doctor, a street bum, a party planner -- wondering if they'll recover their true selves in time to do battle with an assortment of evils that threaten from without and within.

A compelling story and truly inspired artwork combine to make this a must read for fans of the graphic novel genre. Highly recommended.

My Writing Toolkit

"I was curious what software you use for writing your books."

-- Brian I., CA

For years I've been using plain old MS Word for my picture books, my spec chapter books, and even my spec novels. With very minor tweaks, you can set it up to produce a very respectable-looking manuscript. The generally accepted format for all of these is double-spaced and indented at each new block of dialogue or descriptive text. One inch margins all around seems pretty standard, too.

I use a dedicated script program (Movie Magic Screenwriter 6) for my spec screenplays and sitcoms as the formatting in those is a little more complicated than book manuscripts -- dialogue/action/parenthetical/shots and transitions, etc. This software also includes a novel template and that's what I used to write my 2009 NaNo project -- just to mix things up. It worked fine but I wouldn't advise authors to purchase MMS 6 just for the novel template -- Word will do and you probably already own that.

As an aside, I use Final Draft 5 for my animation scripts as that program seems to be a requirement for a lot of shows in this genre. These scripts are almost always written in screenplay format although, obviously, not nearly as long. My copy of FD is ancient and creaky and I should probably upgrade soon but, hey, it's still readable by the newer versions and even the upgrades of these dedicated script apps can be pricey. That said, they really make cranking out a script a lot easier so I'd recommend investing in one if you're serious about a career in features, sitcoms, or animation. Final Draft also has a built-in novel template, but I haven't used it.

Finally, I use an outlining program for my novels and screenplays called Dramatica Pro. It's primarily an organizational tool and I like it because it helps me focus and deepen my story early on, making the actual writing a lot easier. Is a program like this a necessity? No. You can definitely get by with your own personal (and free) outlining method.

There you have it, the complete Novel Project writing toolkit. Now get to work.

"Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman - Mini Review

A fun story about two brothers who are the sons of the African trickster god, Anansi.

Spider knows who and what his dad is, Fat Charlie does not. He doesn't even know that he has a brother. When the old man kicks the bucket while performing on a Florida karaoke stage, events are set into motion that enlighten Fat Charlie about his heritage -- and fast. He quickly discovers that a dull life can get dangerously interesting when the gods are involved.

Set in the same literary universe as "American Gods" and loaded with his trademark wry wit, "Anansi Boys" is a worthy addition to Neil Gaiman's body of work and is a must read for fans of original tales well told. Recommended.

In Your Face, 50k!

Well, I did it! Checked the counter shortly after midnight and found that I was at a nicely balanced 52052 words -- a couple of days beyond my personal goal of 5ok by this past Wednesday, but I'm not complaining. All in all, I'd say this year's NaNo was the most fun to date -- a couple of slow days here and there but that happens. It was fun, challenging and, dare I say it, easy all at the same time. The "easy" part doesn't come from me thinking too highly of my rather workman-like abilities but, rather, from the fact that I was lucky enough to have an idea that I really liked and a pretty good outline. It's a lot easier to keep going when you have at least some idea of where you're headed.

Now, have I finished the novel? No. I just beat the NaNo 50k in a month word challenge. The finishing part will come in the months ahead.

Here's where I stand as of 11/28/09:

• 52052 words. I'm guesstimating the first draft will top out at around 75-80k.
  
• At the start of Chapter XV (out of XXIII).
• Our hero and his intrepid crew have just been captured on board the archfiend's flagship while attempting a bold rescue. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was curtains for them.

I'd really like to finish up a first draft by the end of January (my daily word count seems to drop off dramatically after the 30th, for some reason) but we'll see. I'll let you know when I reach that goal. The cool part is that I'm well on my way toward producing a manuscript that I can try to get published -- my foundational motivation for partaking in the craziness that is the National Novel Writing Month.

The Big 40

Hit the 40k mark in my novel late last night. A day behind schedule but that's okay. I'll try to catch up and spread the "lost 2k" out over the next few days and still try to finish on Wednesday.

Here's where I stand as of last night:

• Finished Chapter X (out of XXIII) for a total of one hundred and seventy-two pages so far.
• In the middle of an exciting escape sequence where the protagonist has been seriously injured by minions of the evil arch fiend. The cad!
  
• Greatly enjoying myself. Ideas are coming fast and furious which is infinitely more fun than the alternative. I'm not a big believer in writer's block, but I have experienced extended chunks of "My brain is full of molasses. I don't want to write." Never fun to slog through that condition. It certainly helps that I really like my idea and, like I've mentioned, have a good outline.
  

In other news, I'm getting my third Scooby assignment on Monday which is very exciting for me. I'm having a blast writing these too and needless to say I am very grateful for the work.

I'll check in again when I hit 50k.