Today's progress

25,988 -28,489 right now, but prob more before bedtime.  At the moment, I'm distracted by this.

Finished at 30, 052, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.  The part I have today, I'm not sure how necessary it is.  But, then again, maybe that's why I make mostly shorter fiction.  I could pad everything with little episodes, but what do all those really say?  But, what I've written will probably survive in the full story, though it might get moved around in the timeline, I feel.  Still, hey, my goal today was just to write a good bit, and I managed 4000 words, so that's not bad.

back!

Woo, yeah, updates, huh?  How about them?  I got nothin much, except having to do my first big erase of a part from Secret.  I just didn't like one part, so its getting tossed out.  There was nothing 'unnatural' about it, so far as how it fit in the story, I just didn't like it, so bye, so long, you're gone, adios.


So, how about playing a giant flying castle that saves falling princesses and shoots robots?

Creativity...dieing...

Well, no, not so much, but I didn't get quite as much done.  Something was telling me to work on Celia and not Secret in the Box, but Celia didn't much happen, so in the last hour I got a bit more on Box done, 21110 words...so...just a thousand added. 

Today's update (what would a downdate be?)

Good work today, Jakub Grimstad.

Today I wrote about 2300 words.  That's not all that impressive, I'm sure, compared to Steven King, who writes that many words in seven or eight dimensions at the same rate.  But hey, I'm not cracked out.  I really couldn't decide what to write earlier in the day, but this evening I cranked out 2300.  And looking at the time, its been about an hour since I started.  That's not so bad, really, if only I could do that many words every hour.  I'd have a novel in a fortnight! 

Its actually been about 1.5 fortnights since I've started this new story, and it does seem like its going slow.  Well, not exactly.  The story is actually moving along, but the page count is slow.  But I did break 20,000 words tonight.  I expect the story to only be about 10k longer, but who knows.  Sometimes something I think won't take long ends up taking longer while all the stuff from earlier ends up being much shorter.  Once again, I really don't know how people pump out those 200,000 word super epics.  I pick those books up, and I can't figure it out.  Is it just more stuff happening?  Is there more description?

I actually think part of it is my writing style.  In a fantasy book, they're always explaining everybody's back story.  In my stories, I don't do that.  You mostly meet the characters where they are and go from there.  I may give a little detail as to their pasts, but mostly I feel its my job to show their character through their immediate actions and feelings.  Maybe because I was raised watching movies.  I mean, I read a good bit, especially when I was younger, but when I write I mostly try to write very sensually, and by that I just mean I try to engage the readers sensory imagination.  Not just in my more modern stories, but also in my fantasies I really like to give a sense of place.  In this story and Invalid, creating that sensory observance is very important to creating a nostalgia for childhood.  Its not always a happy nostalgia, but at least for me, I recall being much more observant to sights and sounds as a child.  The world seemed more real.  I try to make that come out in my stories.

Comics post 6

I cheated.  I'm re-using a comic I drew for somebody yesterday.  But hey, its new to you.

I like optional endings.  Its like getting two jokes for the price of one!

Blah blah blah

Sometimes you have a scene in your head that goes nowhere.  What you have says something about the characters, though maybe it doesn't actually further the plot line.  That's fine, but after what you have to stay there, you can leave your characters standing around blinking or you can suddenly cut to some other time.  But that can be awkward if



GOOSE!

 

(that's from animalsbeingdicks.com, btw.  it keeps me going)

p.s. comics on the way

Comics Post 5

You knew I'd keep on drawing them...you can't help yourself...

Just wait. There'll be more.

Another day, another dollop

the secret to making a good hotdog is putting the condiments on the wiener itself.  Some folks put mayo on their hot dog, and while this is generally wrong, putting a small amount on the bun itself can bring out some of the other flavors and keep some buns from sticking to your mouth.  A classic Texas hotdog really only needs mustard, but I like me some pickle relish as well, which I feel is an under appreciated addition.  Ketchup should be used sparingly, and really is only appropriate when pickle relish is also present.

As Aristotle said, "Katsup is the idiots only culinary necessity."  But we don't need to take Aristotle too seriously, we can have catsup sometimes.

In some places, they put raw onions and even tomato on a hotdog, I feel like this is too close to pico de gallo, and since I don't think Tex-Mex and hotdogs really should ever be combined, I avoid it.

When making brats on a bun, I like to sautee up some onions as well, for emotional support.

Why I shouldn't draw comics, 4 (the new batch)

So...who likes Startrek?  Everybody, that's who!

Fine, so its not super original...didn't I say this is why I shouldn't draw comics?  Stop complaining and get me a Dr. Pepper

Turns out I was in the gutter all along...

So, a couple weeks ago I got tickled by the phrase "discovering he's gay."  Its weird, isn't it?  This idea that we discover our sexuality, like it was hiding beneath a rock or something.  On the other hand, it can seem like our sexuality is something apart from us, a sort of invader.

Long story short, I'm writing a short story (see what I did there) about a boy who discovers his homosexuality in a shoe box in the middle of a field.  It should be both funny and heartwarming or terrifying and melancholic, or all of those things.  Man, if I could evoke that many emotions in 40k words, it'd be like I'm a good author or something.

a few seconds later...

While mentioning web comics, I have to give a nod to this here thing.  All fans of Dragon Ball Z should find it funny, or die.

A Social Experiment

So I used to read this webcomic called Mac Hall, back when the earth's crust still hadn't formed.  They've moved on to bigger and better things, so the comic isn't updated any longer, but I remember one post they had that was pretty funny.

They were getting a sudden increase in site traffic, and when they checked it out they found that most of their hits were coming from google searches for digimon porn.  Now, they don't actually have any digimon porn on their site.  But it got me to thinking, could I do the same thing.  Let's find out ;)

Why I shouldn't draw Comics, part 3

Presenting Clement, the suicidal fetus

 

Why I don't Draw Comics, part 2

Despite protests to stop, I cannot help but unleash my genius upon the world...

Insight of the day

So its easier to write about kids because I was actually a kid once, but I haven't ever actually been an adult.  At any rate, my poor characters frequently end up in messed up homes, etc, and they got problems, let me tell ya.  I don't think people generally realize how messed up kids can be.  Kids are messed up!  People think they'll grow out of it, but then, when they get to adulthood, they're just expected to be grown out of it.  Once you don't look cute anymore (if you ever did), no more leeway for you.

So, I figured that's probably how I'll express adults from now on, at least in fiction that's supposed to be contemporary.  Just old, broken kids.  I mean, we don't really have 'trials of manhood'.  You're supposed to go work in an office somewhere, what's that?  No warrior ethos?  How boring.  So I write my fantasy males (that sounds suggestive) obviously different than I write adult men in contemporary fiction.  Men in my fantasy stories (still sounds suggestive) are more manly.  In some ways they're much more balanced, excepting that they're all vicious, violent brutes...but they're happier, overall.  So that's my (somewhat depressing) insight of the day.

I still haven't figured out how to write women, though.  A weakness, I admit.  I guess I'll have to follow Jack Nicholson's lead from As Good as It Gets

So, yeah, mostly working on Secret in the Box, today, a brilliant story, if I say so myself.  I mostly can't plan a story out in advance.  I go almost completely by visualization.  I kinda have to do 'method writing'...anyway, so I mine my past a lot for ideas on how to mess up children's lives in my stories, which is great fun.  Not sure if its therapeutic or pointing to more signs of trouble.  Only time will tell!

Why I don't write Comics, part 1

I sometimes come up with ideas for comics. 

Its probably best I stick to writing novels.

ps. I really like their hats

Ridey Tidy

That's a little sketch I made of Ridey Tidy, a new character in Celia: Monster Hunter, or whatever I'm naming it.  I'm not an artist...just saying.  Its a little sketch and totally took me like two hours to draw.  Its also not particularly interesting...I mean, little anime girl red riding hood?  Yeah, mostly...but just what is in your picnic basket Ridey Tidy...what are you hiding?

ps.  She has two legs, the other one is just, you know, occluded or something...its back there.

pps. I bet if I made nudes of her, I'd totally start getting more web traffic :\

ppps.  'Occluded' isn't used right, but I like the way it sounds.  I'm a writer, I'm allowed to change the language to suit my needs...unlike people who just text unintelligibly.  Lose=\=Loose

I must not be writing...

Man, so, like, 2 posts in a day?  For reals?  Ya.


Good work done on Oraphan Cycle today.  What's that?  I haven't mentioned it on this blog.  Well, its my fantasy story.  Super serial.

So how many stories is that I'm working on?  Well, let's see.  Currently there's Celia: Monster Slayer, which is going to be a full sized juvenile fiction book.  Oraphan Cycle (thats the working title, by the way) which is a full sized fantasy.  The Secret in the Box, which is a short story, and then Fiery Brian, also a short story.  So that's only, what, four?  That's not that many.  And Fiery Brian and Secret in the Box may go in the same book...though my brother suggests they're too different to do that.  I'll figure it out later.

So. Yeah, gonna have a fantasy epic, though honestly, don't know how those other guys hack it.  400,000 words?  No way.  Though, ya know, I figured out that one secret of writing is re-writing, as opposed to editing the original.  You write it down, get those ideas out, and then expand on them.  First drafts should be drafts...only took me 30 years to figure that one out...

In theory.

Discipline!

PS. So, go figure, you get some interesting pics when you google image search 'discipline'

Wound Up

So, the hardest part of writing is putting down the, uh, keyboard when you get stuck, and taking a break, because you get really attached to the story you're working on and you don't want to quit.  Even though I know that sometimes I have to just stop and work on something else, some other story, I really want to keep on working on the story at hand because I had some momentum going.  But then you just force things that aren't there, get caught up in the words instead of letting the images write for you...I get all left brained, really, and that's no good for writing fiction, not for me, anyway.

Lesson learned, yeah, but hard to adhere to said lesson.  Discipline, discipline, discipline.

Oh, hey, do you like poppy dance music?  I don't typically, but you should check out Liz Primo if you like that sort of thing.  I got to hear a pre-release cd and actually liked some of the stuff.  Its fun.  Some of its kinda like The Ting Tings or even some of the more poppy Fantastic Plastic Machine.  Its up for pre-order on iTunes right now and should be out pretty soon; I think itunes says Sept. 13...I think that's my grandma's birthday.  Happy birthday Grandma!  You know what you're getting; hope you like lyrics with lots of sexual euphemism!  Anyway, scope it out, yo.  I like Candy Man, kinda has that FPM feel at points, and Wind Me Up is kinda 80s in some really good ways.

Oh, Noooooooo...!  Writers block? 

Its not so much writer's block as...writer's....suck.  Because its like whatever I write, I hate.

Must...push....through.

Today I'll be challenging societal norms about homosexuality.  "What societal norms?" you might ask.  Can you talk about a single societal norm regarding gays, when we live in a society of diverse societies.  I mean, there are at least two, right?  There's the one that hates gays, and there's the one that is chill with them.  What I like writing about are gays who hate themselves, because that makes everybody happy...or offends everyone

Hopefully both.

I think every blog post should have some sort of link to something else, you know, so its like, multimedia...this is entertaining for at least seven minutes.

I guess that has more to do with the space story I've been writing...though I haven't in awhile...