pyrostinger

So, not too long ago, somebody commented on one of my journals 'Congratulations on being good enough to get published".  And... to be completely honest, I don't think I'm there yet.  Actually, i'm just not sure.  There's probably just me holding myself back, as it were, because I don't quite think I'm that good enough. 

See, I'd tell you that I got published in X because I just got extremely lucky and somebody selected me.  I suppose the truth of the matter is more like Kyell saw my work when I submitted to Heat, and he was helping out with that, and he liked my story enough that he thought of me when he was putting together X.  And I... do not remember why I was asked to write a story for Holidays, just that I was and did.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that I was chosen to be in both, and to a degree it is pretty special that I was picked for both projects.  It has to be gratifying to be thought of when somebody says to you that they want YOU'RE writing to appear in their anthology. 

However, I do have some issues with what I've written for both, which is what, I think, holds me back.  I'm not sure either Honor Thy Mother or Resurrection, the stories I wrote for X and Holidays respectively, are as good as they could be, or as they could have been if different writers have been chosen.  As I stated before with The Other Apprentice, I had some issues with that story BEFORE I was told all the unfortunate holes in it (while also saying that it was quite good, just craved more).  I'll probably put out The Other Apprentice on FA if when if it gets rejected from FANG, but here's hoping.

Ironically, one of what I think my strongest stories is Secret, a story written for a contest that I missed the deadline at.  Perhaps I do not do well with pressure.  

Start: 6291 words
End: 6855 words
Progress: 564 words/97.9%

Successss!  haven't mad the planned edits/re-writes yet, instead working on finishing off the story, then pumping in the other stuff.  The word count will no doubt swell because i'm pretty sure i'll be adding to the story.  And at this rate, i'll be overshooting 7k, which is nice.  But ultimately, i'm going to be needing some beta readers, and probably a new title.  As is, it's terribly generic, but then it's a working title anyway. 

Began: 4486 words
Ended: 4912 words 5081 words
Progress: 426 words/98.2% 595 words/101.6%

hell yeah.  i saw i was so close and just had, HAD to cross that threshold.  yes.  Even better, i thought i was going to have a bit of trouble transitioning, and i ended up moving up something so that it would make more sense.  So then, a bit of conversation, then to the pay off, and then a bit of easing down, and i think i'll have a story.  if i were to guess, i'd say i have at least another thousand words to write.  At this rate, i can probably finish it this week, have the last week for editing.  yus.

This was going to be for yesterday, but then i saw all the progress i made over two days and just sorta... went with it, i guess?  i dunno, here we go

Began: 3767 words
Ended: 4472 words
Progress: 705 words/89.4%

i will breath a sigh of relief once i cross 5000, more so when the story seems close to completion.  Though to be honest, i think the one scene that i've been working on that, at present, takes up most of the story is... possibly superfluous?  not sure yet, but maybe it could stand to be cut down.  Regardless, i am liking the 705 over two-ish days progress.  yus. 

As for what's next?  Well, there are two scenes in mind, some further exposition with the mole dude working on some stuff... the arrival of the rival, and, of course, the reward that the mole gets the rival is ignorant of. 

i may hit 10k.  not sure how i feel about that.  Also, hoping i'm sticking to the theme...

Hey folks.  Been a while.  Still alive, so to speak, but suffered a bit of a set back in terms of having a computer.  This also means that I haven't been able to meticulously keep track of my progress in terms of writing, and I did lose a few days, but at present 2662 words (according to Google Docs; every word count is slightly different, I've learned) which is a good chunk of wordage than when I last left whatever was on my computer.  I'm making do, however, and that should be okay, especially since I'm about 53% in terms of minimum wordage.  Feelin' good about that, and there are a few scenes in my head that should be constructed in the story. 

Switching gears, there was this other story that I happened upon the other day.  Now this one wasn't as horrendous as that other thing, but it did have some issues that I felt should be addressed.  Now, it was a multi-part story, and I read the first one and was somewhat intrigued.  It had some confusing bits, but nothing that couldn't have been addressed in story and wasn't a problem for me.  The second part, however... was really, really confusing.  I had very little idea about what was going on in some parts, and moreover, why.  It introduced a lot of elements to the story, and things took some left turns that I didn't expect and it didn't help that there was some confusion with pronouns (long story short, a guy grew tits and apparently was sometimes referred to as a girl as well as a dude).  The third part of the story came up and when I saw it, I realized that I had absolutely no desire to continue reading the story further.  The second part killed it for me.  I could sum up the particulars of the story, but it was essentially somebody's character backstory, which generally doesn't get as interesting as they want it to be.

Goal: 150 words
Began: 1054 words
Ended: 1369 words
Completion Rate:  27%/315 words

Today was better than yesterday in that I got stuff done for my story!  Tomorrow/today is the beginning of October, which essentially means 31 days until this thing needs to be done.  So in a way, I'm kinda under the gun.  Didn't get quite as much as I have been the last couple times that I have been writing, but that's sorta a moot point, so long as progress is being made.  Though really, I should revise up my goal.  Not just because I keep exceeding it, but more because I need to write more in order to have enough time to edit it and turn in a properly vetted story by November 1st.  Besides, the MINIMUM is 5k words.

I had a bit of a brainstorming session last night. Not quite sure what to do with it, but maybe going to transcribe it a bit and keep thinking in order to flesh out this story. And for those of you watching, you're going to get an idea of what I want to do for this story.

First and foremost, this is a story for FANG, an erotic themed anthology put out for Bad Dog Books. The theme for volume 5 is "Best Enemies." For whatever reason, my first thought was 'rivals', or some kind or rivalry. I guess it's sorta my fault that I wanted to further write the story in my own little steampunk universe, if only to flesh it out some.

The first idea that I had (I had help with it, thanks Meisarelle) was two rival inventors with the penultimate scene at a world's faire of some sort, where they would compete maybe for patronage. Since it kinda has to be a sexy story, I was thinking that maybe one or both of the rivals would be blowing off some steam in one of the whore houses/bordellos of the area, the one that my character Shiya runs. But the thing of it is... even though I came up with some concepts as well as a few characters, the entire situation seemed... very awkward to me. I imagine it's going to be something similar once I return to the Unsheathed story prompt. Regardless, I'm not sure it's working for me, and I'm inclined to abandon the idea in favor of another.

See, the other idea that I'm developing is essentially a rivalry between two apprentices. I'm not sure how to make it work, but I think one or both is called upon to essentially do some upkeep around the place. Perhaps they're also fighting for the Master's affections. Not like that, but more in the way of favored apprentice and that still sounds kinda wrong somehow.

The submission page on FANG also lists some jumping off point, like an enemy who became a friend or a friend who became an enemy, so there are other avenues to explore on this.  Hell, if I do it right, I could probably flesh out a bit of Shiya's past... which would be less of a problem.  I haven't really put much thought into her origins, so there is that.  But then there's the whole best enemies thing, which I wrote down in a notebook implies that they are perfectly or ideally opposed to one another.  There's something going on here that makes two characters particularly good enemies... and yet, there's also supposed to be sex in here.  The sex is probably going to be the hardest part, and most likely it's also going to be a pay off of some kind. 

Perhaps I could do a bit of a sexual rivalry, but that seems kinda weird. 

You know, I think maybe my major problem is trying to shoehorn the setting I want to in there.  That might be the biggest problem.  Or is it me trying to figure out how to put the sexy portions in it?  I know that there has to be some kind of tension between the two characters, as that's the entire point, but why can't it also be sexual tension?  Would there just be two people who have a falling out or something?  Or is there some kind of inherent competition going on between them?

Maybe we can go back to the 'prentice idea, and have that two of them trying to out do each other.  For whatever reason, I kinda want there to be a third party of some kind, to sorta... vent to.  Perhaps the story could be a series of conversations, since that does seem to be my strong point.  But even so... I think I want something more.  Something to the story, I can't necessarily simply pander to my strong points.  But the two 'prentices try to out do each other, maybe, and they're competing separately in a contest, maybe?  Could be that one rival grabs the other behind the store, then in a minor twist, starts making out with the other.

What is steampunk, anyway?  I wrote some of this down last night, and essentially it's kinda victoriana, probably around the 18th and 19th centuries, or therabouts.  (Girl Genius kinda helps, here, in terms of clothing).  There's exploration and a sort of explosion of innovation.  Perhaps modern items made through antiquated methods.  Inventors, scientists, engineers, alchemists, airships and dirigibles, pistols and revolvers, and probably plenty of goggle action. 

I think I'm done for now... I'll think of something.