Concerning Prehistory Beasts: Arctodus

Arctodus simus. The Giant Short-Faced Bear. Prehistoric predator...seriously bad news to whatever crosses its path. This is the reason we have primal fear...our cave-dwelling ancestors faced this beast. And look below how it compared in size. Now, imagine if one could speak. What do you think it would say? In Burr, they speak. They are not very intelligent but they are just as deadly as they seem here. Stupid, but deadly.

Arctodus, like most of the prehistory beasts of Burr, were created by the Mages. Why? Guardians, Gate-keepers, and sometimes hired thugs. Could you imagine anyone trying to get past one of these creatures guarding the home of a Mage? Really only a dragon, or a T-Rex could do it. But the Mages have other protections against these...

My first literary encounter with Arctodus was in "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dragon," a short story that takes place in Burr, but in a different time period as my novel "The Mages of Morrow." This particular Arctodus was typical of the species...big, dumb and dangerous. He'd been sent on a mission of thuggery by his master, the Mage Y'ansick. 

I enjoyed writing the character of the Arctodus in "Tiny Dragon," so it's for sure that I'll feature at least one Arctodus in book 1 of the Mages series: "The Mages of Morrow."

Concerning Prehistory Beasts: Pteradons

In the alternate realm of Burr, Pterandons (also called Pteri) were biologically created both to harass the dragons of enemy Mages in battle (since they are quicker on the wing) and as messengers (because they can endure flying long journeys). They are highly intelligent, but shrewd and they are incredibly loyal to their Mages. They are fond of ribald jokes.

They are deadly, especially to dragons. Their sharp beaks aren't hindered by tough dragon scales. They keep pecking until they find a weak spot in the dragon's armor. They fight in flocks. A dragon who has to deal with three or four Pteri is in grave danger, but they can usually hold their own against just one. Dragons will outright murder any lone Pteri they happen to encounter. 

Pteri maintain an uneasy truce with dragons and the other prehistoric beasts created by the same Mage that created them. 

The Mages of Morrow: The basic plot of my NaNoWriMo novel...

Sixteen-year-old Mercy Danville, like Alice, has fallen down a hole. Sucked into the singularity of a rare Earth black hole, she is plunged into world of Burr. Burr is riddled with planetary black holes that can take you to other alternate Worlds or to other locations in Burr.

A cold war is about to turn hot on Burr. Mages (scientist magicians) have biologically created many creatures, some are hold overs from old wars among themselves: sentient dragons and prehistory beasts they used as weapons. Now they are at odds with the Sages (scholar magicians—they call themselves 'true' magicians) who are in charge of the political side of things on Burr. They mistrust the Mages and their science, which incidentally caused all of the black holes, in a past with technology long forgotten.

Mercy is thrust into this scene, into her own personal hell. She lands on the doorstep of a brothel tavern in the town of Crope. The madam of the brothel intends to force Mercy into prostitution once she reaches the legal sexual age of seventeen. She has promised Mercy's virginity to a brute and callous thief named Clem. Mercy prays desperately to meet a Gypsy (wandering folk who may have magic Sage-like powers) who will take her through a black hole and home.

Enter Tom Stranger...a shadowy man who is more than he appears to be...a man caught up in prophesies...

Works in (slow) progress...and a trip into the surreal life.

1.) Outlining chapters for my NaNoWriMo novel, which is to be called "Mages of Morrow." It is set in the same alternate world as my short story, "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dragon."  
2.) Working on finishing up some incomplete poems: "Ars Gothica", "The Thoughts of a Statue of Dead Poet in a Park Watching People", and "Blame, Lies, and Manipulations." 

I have other unfinished business, this is just the stuff I'm working on now. 

I work on these projects when I have a spare moment. And I haven't had too many of those lately. Recently my time has been maxed out with studying and writing essays for college. My term ends 7/23 and then I'll have a small break before the fall term begins on 8/23. I hope to squeeze in a little writing time during that nice break.  

I took a little field trip to the Salvador Dali Museum as part of a cultural experience for an essay I had to write for Western Humanities class. I love Dali's work. Especially those pieces from the years when he was fully engaged in doing his best Surrealist stuff.   

I feel inspired to write a story based on "Archeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus." But I need to chew on it mentally for a bit. When the time is right, I'll know it. I want to be able to do it justice.
 
This is a photo of the artist outside the entrance to the museum:

Dragons and Dino's are calling me to a change of NaNo heart...

I've made a momentous decision.

It happened, as the saying goes, "just like that."

After wracking my brain and flinging a few, well-chosen and nasty adjectives at the computer (and at myself and my fickle muse--and yes, he is lower case for the moment) I decided to change gears on my NaNoWriMo plans.

I was going to originally write a very clever story about nanobe-like aliens who come to Earth and invade our bodies so they can use us to war among themselves. I still like this concept. But when I sat down to outline the chapters and plot lines of the book, I went blank and all of the plot bunnies went and hid themselves. I've been looking everywhere for them. I've found plenty of dust bunnies but not one single plot bunny could be located. They may have gone to Cleveland.

"Into the Glow, Aborning" will get written, that much I know. It's just not going to get written in November.

I have had nothing but the world of Burr on my mind lately. The muse is slamming delicious thoughts into my head about that place. Burr is the world (alternate reality) where my WIP short story "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dragon" takes place. The name of the world is never mentioned in the story.

I had already planned to start a first novel (thinking trilogy, certain that it will take more than one book to tell this story) based on this world. The novel is to be called "The Mages of Morrow" (with subsequent novels named along the same line: "The Sages of Sorrow," etc. all very sequel-y).

Burr is a wonderful place. Full of shifting black holes, magician-scientists (mages) who bioengineer sentient Dragons and prehistoric monsters to war for them, gypsies (who are lesser mages), and magician-scholars who still practice the real hocus-pocus-brew-me-a-potion type magic (sages).

I've got Burr so much in my blood (and love the place that it becomes so much in my imagination) that I have to start writing it soon.

So I sat down tonight to start writing the outline, and voilà!--the Muse is back and the bunnies have come home from their holiday. One of them is wearing a Manchester United tee-shirt. Very odd bunny. The outlines I was able to do flowed better than I could have hoped for. I wanted to get 4-to-5 done, but only got two done. However, those two are very detailed. The Muse is definitely doing his part again. Back to capitalizing.

Even now that I'm done for the night (morning, now) and, as I'm fond of saying, Morpheus keeps trying to drag me off to Dreamland (he is positively ranting now), I don't want to stop outlining this story. The ideas keep coming and coming. One thing I should do is finish writing "Tiny Dragon." This book doesn't depend on the short story, it's just that I love the story and want to finish it. And I'm so very close to the end, anyway.

So, I will be writing about dragons and dinosaurs this November, after all.

It's nice to be focused.

Paper bags, smelling salts on order as November looms...

November is coming. 

No, I'm not worried.

I have done absolutely squat on characterization or plot outlines so far. Nothing. 

I have a grand total of five, maybe six characters (main and supporting) for my grand 50K NaNoWriMo adventure. 

I have been up to my eyeballs in homework getting through my first term back at college. The only writing I've been doing has been speeches for communications class and term papers. Classes ended today for the semester, so I'm determined to get something going on my writing, and especially for NaNoWriMo. I'm starting to get just a little freaked out about being ready for 1667 per day word counts. Everything would probably go a little bit smoother if I had something more than a general idea of where this novel is going. But more on my NaNo project in a bit. 

First, the WIP's I need to advance/complete:

The poems I started as part of NaNoPoMo that I never completed: the grand gothic epic "Ars Gothica" and "Only Silence." I need to complete them so I can send at least one over to Jim at Soft Whispers. And start new poems. I need to start writing new poems. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Okay, story WIP's that need finishing:

So many. "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dragon," whose end is so near in my mind and whose plot has stagnated there as well. I need to re-read it and get inspired. I started, but need to complete Chapter 5 of my online serial: "The Reluctant Prince." Also, chapter 2 of my #fridayflash Twitter serial 'The Roswell Revenge' called "30 Miles to Dexter" needs editing. "Mind:set," "With Teeth that Tear Flesh" (my first foray into Cthulu Mythos) and "Transcendental U" all need work continued on them. I refuse to abandon them altogether, as the muse insists they are stories worth the telling. 

New ideas:

With so many unresolved stories, you'd think now would not be the time to come up with new ideas for stories. But I can no more help the visions that the muse sends my way than a dog can help barking when he hears the mailman three houses down the street. The ideas come, and I my mind is a channel for them, hearing them whispered from afar and all I can do is write them down and sustain them with constant imagination.

I have one in my mind called "The Brothers." It is a different piece than what I usually write as it is a drama, part of which is set in WWII Poland. 

New sci-fi concept: "Eros and Matilda." Can't go into too much detail on what the story is about at this moment except to say it involves animal experimentation and is probably not anything like what you are thinking. 

Now, to NaNoWriMo.

I still want to stick with my original plan for the novel "Into the Glow, Aborning." Alien nanobe body snatchers using humans as weapons and Earth as the battleground in their civil war. 

That's all I have so far. 

Oh, and I need to find an image to use as my NaNoWriMo avatar for the forums, etcetera. My NaNoWriMo name is waning_gibbous, in honor of H.P. Lovecraft. 

I'm going to browse Clip Art.com and other sources for some possible candidates. 

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Keep in mind that the picture or clip art needs to be free or public domain so I can use it freely on NaNoWriMo's website.

November is looming and I'm worrying about the damn forum avatar!

Synopsis for NaNoWriMo Novel

I left a synopsis for my November novel challenge, "Into the Glow, Aborning" on my NaNoWriMo account page and I wanted to share it here:

Into the Glow, Aborning

A young boy hears a sound that wakes him up in the night. He goes outside to investigate. The next day he falls into a strange life-threatening coma. When he awakens, his parents notice he is not the same...

Nether Stowey and his new wife Clemetia are entertaining Clemetia's parents. They are visiting from the terraformed planet Caeladon, affectionately called "Greener World." Nether and Clemetia are enjoying being newlyweds, but life as they know it is about to change. For all of us.

People begin acting strangely. Some seem to be capable of telepathy. Some can heal themselves of nearly every wound or illness. A bizarre transformation is taking place among the humankind of Earth. We are becoming superhuman. But at what price?

We are infected, it seems.

The Nano-aliens have come to earth. They are fighting a war for supremacy and they have picked Earth as their battleground and humans as their weapons.

How can we stop beings so small that they can only be seen by the highest powered electron microscopes? How can we fight against our brothers and sisters who are in favor of superhuman transcendence and the increased life-span it offers?

Somewhere out there, is the weapon we need to fight back. If only we can discover it in time...

NaNoWriMo Introduction

I thought it was about time to introduce myself on the 'Newbie' forum at NaNoWriMo, so I wrote this little piece:

I'm brand new to the NaNoWrimo scene in 2010, but I've wanted to do this for quite some time.

It's going to be difficult for me as I have just enrolled in college to pursue my BA in English. I will begin my freshman AA degree classes at St. Petersburg College on 2/8. This decision came on the tailwind of my getting laid off from my job in January. I feel it's time for a change of direction.

I'm going to try not to lose my mind in November as I struggle with classes and 1667 a day Wrimo word counts. But I made up my mind that this would be my NaNoWriMo year, and nothing is going to stop me.

I've had poetry published recently in the e-zine market, and I've submitted one flash fiction story. I hope to submit another short story before the end of February.

This will be my first attempt to 'complete' a novel. I have several novels in progress in various stages of life. Some are deceased, but I'm just too stubborn to completely bury them, so they're rotting away on my hard drive. I have a lot of trouble trying to write a novel so I hope that this first Wrimo experience helps me to get over that hump. I'm not expecting to write a great Hemmingway masterpiece, I just want to get a novel written.

Finally, I hope to make some new friends, both Newbies who are just as terrified as I am, and Seasoned Veterans who can give us a helpful hint or a kick in the ass along the way, whichever is needed. I'm looking forward to the adventure.

Peace;

waning_gibbous

Probable Title for NaNoWriMo Novel

After much thought on the subject, I think I may have a very good and descriptively accurate title for my NaNoWriMo book: "Into the Glow Aborning." My general idea behind it is mankind transcending to become 'superhuman' with the help (and sometimes force) of nanobe-like aliens.

There has been great controversy in the fields of microbiology and astrobiology about certain agents that have been discovered (nanobes) and whether they are living or not. I'd like to explore that concept, then exploit it--that's what writers do. Here is a link to some of my research so far: Nanobes: A New Form of Life?

I'm very excited and have thousands of juicy thoughts erupting violently in my brain. They are all very delicious indeed, but only some of them are digestible. I must wait until I start writing (and then editing) to ferret out the tenderest and most tasty bits.

I am considering doing one of the most difficult of writing styles for this novel: the multiple P.O.V. Meaning that the novel will switch back and forth between the points of view of different characters. This style does not work in short stories, but when applied to a novel, and crafted with thoroughness (without slipping in characterization) it can be a very effective means of telling a story. I can't wait to idealize which characters I'm going to have witness the unfolding drama.

I know one of my characters already. He will be the main protagonist, the one we will sympathize with the most. His name is Nether Stowey.

If you think you've heard the name before, it's because you might have. Nether Stowey is the name of a town in Southwest England. It was home for a brief time to the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Basic Training for NaNoWriMo

As of last night, I began to exercise my brain and fingers for NaNoWriMo.

Although the Great American Novel Writing Adventure isn't until November, I have decided that I need lots of practice in getting used to sitting my butt in front of the computer writing more than 500 words at time, which is what I had my StoryMill progress meter set on. StoryMill is kick ass writing software, peeps!

For short stories, 500 words in one sitting is fine, and I would often go over the goal line. But, for NaNoWriMo, it simply will not do. In order to have the minimum of 50,000 words in 30 days for NaNoWriMo,  I need to write at least 1667 words per day. So, last night I reset my progress meter to 1667 and went to work on my novel "The Coffee Wars." I started about 9:30 p.m. and worked until 11:00 and at the end I had written 1673 words. I was very happy. It was a little strange, because I did not go back and edit too much as I went along (which absolutely drove me bonkers) but that's the way I've got to get used to writing, if I'm going to have any luck with completing a novel. Just have to let the words flow, and take care of the clean-up later.

As a result of this, I finished Chapter 2 and got a pretty good start on Chapter 3. I'm going to do it again tonight. I will work on this novel a couple of nights a week and increase the number of nights I can do it, hopefully without letting my ongoing work on "Tiny Dragon" suffer, as I'm anxious to wrap that story up.

I'm considering this my boot camp for NaNoWriMo.

Wish me luck on my efforts to try an establish a pace in these months leading up to my first attempt at a 30-day novel. I will need your prayers, well-wishing and support.

Breakfast, Coffee, Project Planning and a Library Run

I'm getting up early tomorrow. I'm going to make a stab at it, anyway.

I want to rise about seven-ish, take my shower and eat some semi-homemade cheesy corned-beef hash for breakfast. Then hop in the car and head on over to check out the Sonoma Coffee Cafe for some strong "writer's fuel" and get some story planning in on one of my NaNoWriMo novel concepts (which I do not have a title for as yet).

Afterwards, I need to go pick up a book from the library that I have reserved that is geared toward helping me in formatting manuscripts for submission to publishers. I have a flash fiction story (a smidgen over 1000 words) that I feel is ready to get out there in somebody's slush pile. (I may submit it to Critters or SFF workshop for critiquing before I start mailing it out to Asimov's or The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.)

The story is called "World Wide Web" and the narrator is an alien shape-shifting arachnoid.

As for NaNoWriMo, I signed up a few days ago to take part in this November's exercise in mass insanity. My NaNoWriMo author name is 'Waning Gibbous' (another reference to my love of H.P. Lovecraft).

The idea behind NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is that you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, starting on November 1st and ending at midnight on November 30th.

Winning NaNoWrimo is having the minimum number of 50,000 words uploaded by the November 30th deadline. The concentration is on quantity, not quality, so they advise you just to write, write, write and not give a whit how crappy it is, because, it will be crappy. At least for those of us writing our first novels. Nearly all first novels suck. The point of it is the experience. They tell you absolutely no editing during writing, which will be extremely hard for me. I'm used to revising most of my stuff as I go, especially my short stories. They've advised me that my inner editor is a jerk and I should pay her no mind. If you've got any kind of story at all, say the wonderful people at the Office of Letters and Light, you can begin editing it in December. November is for writing only, with wild abandon. Okay. I've got ten months to get used to that idea and to learn how to tell my inner editor to "piss off!"

So what do I win when I complete my NaNo novel, you ask? Well, I win the right to say to people, "Hey, did I tell you about the book I've written?" That's all. Oh, I get special codes to have Amazon's self-publishing affiliate (called CreateSpace) send me a special printed copy of my manuscript for free. And I can buy a winner's tee-shirt.

So, I'm going to write a novel.

What about?

I don't know yet. I have two ideas running through my head at present. I mentioned one of them above. I don't have a title for it yet, but I have a vision of Earth being visited by nano-aliens, creatures so infinitesimal that we can't stop them. They can invade our bodies where they attempt to direct our lives. At first, we don't know if they are demons, viruses or memes (which are still viruses, but more on a cultural level). There is an upside and a downside to their existence. Some of them are good and only want to share their special gifts with us in a symbiotic relationship. Through their incredible powers of healing and superior intelligence, those who accept the alien intrusion transcend and become 'superhuman'. Some of the nano-aliens, however, are evil (these are referred to by the good aliens as 'variants'). They want to destroy.

That's the idea I'm going to try and work on tomorrow morning at Sonoma's.

The other idea is one I already have a head start on. I've mentioned in earlier posts that I want to write a novel called "Mages of Morrow" based on my short story (still in progress) called "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dragon." It will be set in the same realm, although in a slightly later time period. I could use all of the notes and research that I have accumulated in writing the short story. However, I don't know if I want "MoM" to be my first novel. I feel that my dragon (and prehistoric beast) creations have become so close to me that I need to give that book more than just ten months of planning in order to do it justice.

So, I have a weighty decision to make before November.

Aliens or dragons.

I welcome any thoughts on the subject from anyone reading this post.