A Stab At The Sevens

The lovely Kim Kasch over at The Writer's Blog tagged me with this meme. And while I usually avoid these things like the plague, I decided not to be such a grouch this *ONE* time and actually play along.

Anyway, here's how the meme goes:

1. Go to page 77 of your current manuscript.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy the next 7 sentences exactly how they're written. No cheating!
4. Tag 7 other writers to pass this meme on to.

Now my current novel WIP doesn't yet have an official title, but it's based on the 1990 Nintendo game from Konami, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Some of you may recall this project from a while back here. While I haven't been able to work on it lately as much as I would like, I do at least have more than enough pages written to fulfill these requirements. So here goes. This is taken from the middle of Chapter 5, where my demon hunter and his erstwhile companion find themselves in dire straits:

"Even as his mind panicked he registered another flash of lightning, this time striking the very ground behind the creature’s feet. Before he could make sense of the peculiar nature of the approaching storm, however, the Cyclops shook him mightily as if to dislodge every bone within his body. 

"Trevor groaned and struggled against the stone grip around his throat. His vision swam as he fought for air, all the while staring into that solitary unblinking eye looming so large above him. Grant screamed at him as if from far away, but a rising din in his ears drowned out the mariner's words. Whatever they were, it seemed terribly important. 

"With the last measure of strength left to him, Trevor brought both fists to bear against that huge orb."

Hmmm, it's been a while since I've visited this scene. I don't even remember how long ago I wrote this. I'm currently writing chapter 12, just for reference. And, no, I did NOT cheat! This is exactly how the 7th line of the 77th page begins. But it's amazing how it begins on a new paragraph, isn't it? I lucked out! And the scene actually still makes sense within the constrictions of this meme. Kewl!

Now tell me, does this make you want to read more? Does it?

I don't have 7 writing friends to rub together. At least, not 7 who are blogging and also in the midst of writing a novel. So I'm going to skip that part. However, if you are one of those friends and you are reading this, please assume I tagged you and, well -- hop to it, buster! And don't forget to inform us of your efforts below in the comments section.

And again, thanks Kim for the tag. You're the best!

Sample Scene From Unnamed Novel

Although I don't speak about it much here, I've been busy these past couple of months taking a second stab at my practice novel. My earliest readers may recall that I'm writing this so-called "practice" novel based on the old Nintendo video game, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. This game was a huge thing back when I was 14 yrs old. I remember literally saving up PENNIES for its release, and going to the nearby K.B. Toy Store with my younger brother and friends--and a brown bag full of loose change with which to pay for it! That's some dedication there, boy! And although there are better games in the series (Super Castlevania IV and Symphony of the Night, to name two), I felt this was the best game for me to try and novelize, being that it had a bare-bones plot and is a prequel to the very first game which came out in 1987.

Weekend Update, Post Mortem

This blog post was to go up last night . . . but I completely dropped the ball. So, you get it a day late. Sorry.

You ever have one of those weekends where you have so much planned, but then so much other crap comes up that you get none of your original plans done? Yeah, that was me. Nothing bad, I must add, but I sure did get a lot of distractions to prevent me from doing what I wanted to do. Of primary suckitude was not getting to continue working on the novel. I had planned to bang out an additional chapter or two, but instead I ended up getting squat done. Oh well, I'm not too stressed about it. Work is coming along nicely on that, and I'm still ahead of the pace I had set a few months back. So, in the long run, I doubt this will be a major setback. As always, you can keep monitoring the word counter at the top of the page to see my progress. I'm about 20,000 words in right now, which I think is roughly 7 chapters or so. Nowhere near the end goal of 120,000 words, or course, but I'm not in a race.

Luckily, I did manage to get in my daily workouts. I almost didn't, because when I get majorly distracted by outside influences it can make it damn nigh impossible to find the motivation. But find it I did. For those wondering, I work out 6 days a week rain or shine. I really don't play around, and never really had a problem with motivation. My schedule is usually:

Mon. and Weds. -- weight training and 3 mile run (1 hour)
Sun., Tues. and Thurs. -- 4 mile run on treadmill with variable incline (35 mins)
Friday -- Rest day.
Saturday -- weight training and calisthenics (45 mins)

Saturday is always my big day since I workout with much heavier weights than I do during the week. So I was glad I forced myself to get that in this weekend. I always get cranky if I miss my Saturday workout.

Additionally, although many of you did not know this, I've been on a juice fast for the past 3 weeks. Yesterday was my last day. This was my first time undertaking such a thing, and I did it primarily as a cleanse. I had no intention of losing weight on it since I'm in very good shape as it is, but in the end I lost 6 pounds anyway. Wow. The "juice" I drank was nothing more than fresh fruits and vegetables put through the grinder. 100% natural, with nothing else added except some wheat grass and spirulina powder for an added energy boost. Still I'm extremely careful with my daily nutrition--I keep charts and everything! So I made it a point to make sure I got a more than adequate dose of protein, too, throughout the day. I'm very particular about my carbs to protein balance since I work out a lot and it's very important to me that I burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

So, yeah, after 3 weeks of eating like a vegetarian hooked up to a tube, I lost a bit of body fat and actually GAINED muscle mass. It's ridiculous, I tell ya! But I feel and look great. Today marks the start of real food, which my body had no problem adjusting to apparently. I guess because I'm still eating healthy anyway. I did have one lapse around a week back when my good buddy GYSC came to visit New York City for his first time. We watched the Jets vs. Pats game at a crazy little Irish pub in Hell's Kitchen, then I introduced him to good ol' NY pizza at this really cool spot I know nearby. But, see, I had already factored in at least one "cheat" day during this juice cleanse--and that happened to be it. So it was actually no big deal. I'm good at not guilt-tripping myself like that. It's how I've managed to keep in sound body and mind all these years. :)

So, at least that didn't get side-railed this weekend. What else?

Oh, yeah, I finished up playing Gears of War 3. You can read all about it in the "Now Playing" sidebar to the right of this page. And just in time for Batman: Arkham City to come out tomorrow! I will most likely pick the game up on Wednesday, however, and won't get around to playing it until this Friday. I have a busy week ahead of me, including catching up on some of the stuff I didn't get to do this weekend, like read and update my iPhone to the newly released iOS 5.0 update. That's going to take me a while to get through since it will erase everything on my phone and I need to make sure I do an adequate backup of all my settings and files first before I commit. Wish me luck!

So, that's all the news that's fit to print in my neck of the woods. How was your weekend?

My Favorite Month

Buh-Bye, Summer.

Yes, summer is finally winding down to a close and we've come to my favorite month of the year -- September! It's my best month not just because it marks the end of my most hated season, but because both Lisa and I have our birthdays in September. How cool is that?


Grillin' and Chillin'.

With Labor Day upon us, I've decided to bust out the brand new Foreman grill and fire up some burgers and dogs. I've got the patties marinating in the fridge now, and will be preparing the corn on the cob in just a few minutes. You may recall that I busted my old grill to pieces last Memorial Day weekend, much to my grief. But I went out and got a similar version and now all is well. I usually only ever eat this type of food on patriotic holidays--especially the ones that give us 3-day weekends to enjoy. Call it a bygone effect of my childhood. Plus, Lisa absolutely LOVES corn! Must be why she laughs at all my jokes. [crickets chirping]


And On The 14th Day, He Rested.

It was 2 weeks ago that I mentioned I was going to be getting down and dirty with this infected PC of mine. Well, I wasn't joking. It's taken me this long to finally get everything squared away and my machine running at top speed once again. Phew! It seems I was infected by a great many things, the biggest of which was a nasty rootkit takeover. That one took a lot out of me to repair, but eventually I got rid of the nasty bugger! And I learned that I really need to stay more on top of my various protective spells programs that have kept this PC running smoothly for the past 8 years. If I weren't so busy of late this might never have happened, and I intend for it to never happen again. But, yes, all is well now. Hopefully this means I won't be so scarce around the blogosphere anymore. Having Windows running under multiple scans and cleanup protocols for hours on end each day can make one not want to hang around a PC much, let me just say. But now I'm up and running again. Hurrah!


Fun, Fun, Fun 'Till Daddy Takes My Word Doc Away!

And speaking of up and running again, you may notice a certain word counter at the top of the page is showing larger digits than the number ZERO again. Yes, yes . . . I have started working on the Castlevania novel once more. As I mentioned in another post earlier last month, I've decided to start all over and rewrite what's already been written down on the project. Which, last time I checked, was around 12 chapters and some 50,000 words. The good news is that I now know what to expect, and have a much clearer idea of what I want to do with these same chapters. I'm going to be streamlining the plot a little, completely re-doing a certain character's voice (which was getting pretty annoying to me in the first run), and trying not to overwrite my sentences, which I have a tendency to do a lot. After just one day's work, I've already written some 2,300 words and finished an entire chapter. Full steam ahead!


So, I hope you all are having a great weekend. If you live in the U.S. of A., have a wonderful Labor Day. Eat lots of burgers and corn and dogs, or combine the last two and have a corndog on me! :)

Writing, Reading . . . More Writing

So, it's me again. Taking a quick break from whatever it is I do when I'm not here blogging. Which, as I mentioned yesterday, has been happening a lot lately. And I'm sorry for that, truly I am. But I have indeed been busy . . . idle hands, and all that.

I'm happy to say that I put the finishing touches on a new short story and sent it out into the wild to see if someone will publish it. I expect it'll go through several rounds of rejections before someone bites. Or not. So it could be a very long time before you hear any more news from me on that front.

In the meantime, I decided to dig into my pile of old stories that might have been but were not, and publish one here for all the world to see. If you remember, I did this a few months back when I resurrected "Hatchling" from my rejections pile. Well now I've added a story I wrote even further back before I wrote "Hatchling." This one is called "Off the Grid," and I wrote it back in mid-2008. To read it, you can click on this link to where I have it up as a separate page attached to The Bimillennial Man, or you can access it under the "Current Short Story WIPs" sidebar on the right side of this page. I created this sidebar to showcase various stories I've written over the past four years which were never able to reach publication status for whatever the reason might be (it varies for each story). These stories don't represent my best work, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise to include my "failures" as well as successes on this blog.

So, feel free to read "Off the Grid" if you're of a mind to do so. As with "Hatchling," I provide a brief insight into why I wrote the story and why I think it ultimately failed. You may or may not agree, but if you want to leave a comment on the tale, you'll have to do so at the end of THIS entry. Blogger Pages doesn't allow comments--just the facts, ma'am.

I've also been reading a lot lately, including that latest "Game of Thrones" novel you might have heard about. That sucker's HUGE, though, and I'm just 100 odd pages into it so far. That's barely scratching the surface on this 1,000 page tome! But--oh yes--so far the book is teh AWESOME sauce! Phew, that George R. R. Martin is an amazingly talented writer. Damn him to the seven hells!!!

In other news . . . if you check the upper right corner of the page, you'll notice that my "Current Novel in Progress" counter is back down to zero words. That's because I've decided to go back and rewrite the Castlevania novel from scratch again. Have no fears, I just wanted to take some time off from it for a while and reexamine my approach. Now that I've done so, I plan on getting back into the thick of things within the next few weeks. Maybe even starting this weekend, although don't hold me to that. But whenever I do ramp things up, I'll make the announcement here and then you can hopefully watch that counter GROW!!!

So, that's all the news that's fit to print in Batista land. How's your summer coming along?

Validation For My Crazy Plans

Recently on his blog, acclaimed sci-fi author and current SFWA president extraordinaire, John Scalzi, put up a bucket list of sorts detailing the things he would like to do in life. It's a good list. You should check it out. Speaking of which, I should write up my own sometime this week.

But in the meantime, what caught my attention in particular was this passage:

"In the case of writing a script I can see myself doing what I did when I first tried writing a novel, which is to do a “practice” one first — just thinking up some story I’m not hugely mentally invested and then going off and writing and not worrying if it’s worth reading by anyone else, but rather just doing it to learn what I need to do better the next time. It worked reasonably well with the novels."

See? I knew I had the right idea when I announced nearly a year ago that I would be writing a practice novel as my very first attempt at the long form. As I recall, I received many raised eyebrows from friends, family, and peers alike at this announcement. My reasoning at the time--almost down to the same wording--was very much in line with what Scalzi says above.

Of course, many people felt that I shouldn't bother with a practice novel and just try my hand at a serious run for broke. The product of which I just knew I would have to shop around and try to sell. But this to me didn't sit right with my goals. See, I'm not in a rush to get published. I want to first learn the craft properly. I'm not going to hide in the shadows forever, no. But for the time being this practice novel I'm writing is purely for me to get a handle of what it's like to put together such a daunting project. You know, to rob the idea of writing a novel of its mystique and intimidation factor. The novel I'm writing now is no lightweight, though. It's a fully fledged undertaking. But on a subject I did not come up with on my own, based on an already existing property.

For me, this is my safety blanket. I'll spend the better part of a year writing and revising this baby, and learning all that I can in the process. Afterwards, I'll let a few friends and family read the results before shelving it away for good.

Such is life. Don't cry for me, Argentina.

But I'm floored that this crazy idea of mine turns out not to be so crazy after all. In fact, in retrospect of what Scalzi had to say, now I seem rather clever, don't I?

Now if only that cleverness can translate over to the novel in progress. We shall have to wait and see, won't we?

Avast! Ye Scurvy Dogs

So, on Facebook I mentioned how I now know entirely way too much about 15th century sailing vessels. This is all due to the exhaustive research I've done in service to a scene I'm writing for the novel. Two of my chapters take place aboard a haunted pirate ship called the Ship O' Fools. In the video game, the ship is a blocky huge monstrosity that is never fully identified. All we know is that it is a pirate ship -- you really can't infer much else from the 2D levels and antiquated sprites.

So from this I had to extrapolate based on history what kind of pirate ship would be floating around the waters of the Mediterranean or Black seas circa the late 15th century. After looking at a tremendous number of ships (at one point I chose a Spanish galleon, although those didn't hit the scene until 200 years later), I finally settled on a carrack, or "nau" as it is called in Portuguese. What it has going for it is that it's huge (500 tons, 54 meters long), with 7 decks and around 35 cannon; it was in use around the time period my novel takes place; and more importantly it sailed many waters, including the Med and Black seas. I couldn't find much info on pirate naus, but I figured one could have theoretically been commandeered by pirates and then met an unfortunate end that "cursed" its crew.

So, with my historically accurate vessel picked out, I then had to learn everything I could about the layout and basic nautical terms of the ship. Wow, what an education I got! I scoured all over for sources other than Wikipedia (I hate that site!) and learned a ton of interesting stuff. Basic stuff that even the most amateur sailor already knows. Like the difference between a forecastle and an aftcastle. What a capstan is, or a bowsprit. That the three masts for my particular ship are: the foremast, the main mast, and the mizzenmast. What the heck the term "abaft" means, or "athwarthship". Where the quarterdeck is located, or that those funny net looking things leading up to the crow's nest are called "shrouds."

Armed with a wealth of knowledge (of which I'll probably only end up using less than 10%), I set about last night to start the first of the two chapters. Most of the writing centered around my three characters rowing a dinghy out to the haunted vessel, and a flashback of sorts being retold. I haven't started writing what happens once they get on the ship yet, though. That will be for tonight's session. But I did leave off with the trio having to climb up the hawsepipe to venture aboard, since none of the crew are around to hoist the dinghy up onto the main deck. All in all, I wrote an additional 2,050 words in the space of two hours. Not bad.

I'm really loving the way this novel is starting to take shape. I can't believe how much fun I'm still having. It really feels like I'm along for the adventure, waiting to see what happens next to my slowly developing characters. Sometimes I forget that I'm only writing a practice novel that will never see publication. Yes, it might seem like a waste of time to some, but for me I'm getting so much invaluable writing experience.

And, hey, it's my time to waste. So there!

First Major Milestone!

Wow, just look at that WiP counter in the upper right hand corner of this page. As you can see, I've been very busy working on the novel for the past couple of weeks. It started out slow, but now only halfway through the month I've already crossed the 25,000 word mark.

Hmmm, I guess maybe I should have joined NaNoWriMo after all. I mean, the goal for that is 50,000 words by the end of the month. And I'm halfway there on the 15th!

But, alas, where for most participants 50,000 marks the end of their novels . . . it won't even be the true halfway mark for my own work.

Good thing I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, though, so damned if I should care. As of right now I've written 6 full chapters, and part of the 7th. In actual page count I've written roughly 80-something double-spaced manuscript pages. Which, in terms of a hardcover fantasy novel you'd purchase from a bookseller, is only about 60 pages or under.

Yeah, not a lot, but I'm not daunted. Mentally I envision myself as only having barely scratched the surface. So I 'm still full of piss and vinegar to continue doing what I've been doing. I don't know if I'll be able to keep at the same exact pace over the next few weeks, because so far I've been blessed by no interruptions despite my always full schedule. But considering next week is a major holiday, I can't promise I'll be able to rely on another 2 weeks straight of consistent writing EVERY SINGLE DAY as I've been able to do so far.

But I'll get damn close. One thing about me is that, once I start a writing project, I write day in and day out without fail. I don't allow myself excuses, and only miss a day when I have absolutely no choice due to some family engagement or work-related snafu. And even then you'll find me sneaking in a few hundred words on a notepad or a family member's PC when I have a couple of minutes. Yes, I can be manic about it sometimes. I wasn't sure if I could keep the habit going with such a huge project like a novel . . . but so far, yes, I can!

As always, keep an eye out on that counter. I can't guarantee it will always progress so steadily, but at least by now you should get the idea that I'm not bullshitting here.

This is for *REAL* folks!

Cuz I Figured, What The Hell?

You may recall a few days ago I mentioned here that I was mulling over the idea of adding a word counter bar on the blog to update people on my progress with the novel I started earlier this week.

Well, looks like the decision has been made! Check it out right now, my very own progress bar. It's currently located above the "About Me" bio on the top right of the page, titled appropriately enough "Current Novel In Progress." If you want your very own progress bar, head on over to Writertopia's website and pick between two counter styles. The one I picked is the simple version called a "picometer." The other one is far more elaborate and is represented by a cartoon that graphically changes depending on what mood attributes you assign to the HTML coding. That one was just way too overboard for my tastes, however.

Depending on which one you pick, you'll have to go into your Blogger design settings and pick Add A Widget. Then pick the one that allows you to add basic HTML/Java tags. Follow the instructions on the Writertopia site and insert the HTML code into your widget box, write a title for the box, and VOILÀ!

As you can see by my counter, I've made some headway in 7 days, but I still have a long ways to go. I had to decide on an overall word count for the novel, though, in order to generate that counter. Which is something I don't yet know. Originally I was aiming for something in the range of 80,000 to 100,000 words -- which is about the size of a sleek, quick-paced and tidy sci-fi novel. However, after completing a rough outline and getting a better understanding of my chapters, I can see I'm going to need more room to capture all the elements I'm planning on including.

Which shouldn't come as a surprise since I'm writing an alternate history fantasy/horror hybrid and not a sleek, cool sci-fi action piece like my usual. Fantasy novels tend to be longer, anyway. My goal will be to toe the fine line between "epic" and bloated piece of crap, though. Geez, I hope I can pull this off!

I'm not ruling out the fact that I might need to increase the goal marker, however. Although I hope not. 120,000 words is A LOT! To be honest, I'm pretty sure I'll come in more at the 100 to 110k range, though. But since this is my first attempt at a novel, I concede the possibility that I could be way conservative in my estimate. Time will tell.

In the meantime, if you're ever sitting there wondering just how the hell this novel of mine is coming along, now you can look at the top of the page and see for yourself. For those keeping score, I had a very slow start at the beginning of the week, and then made up a ton of lost ground near the end of the week and over the weekend. In fact, I'm about to head back to 15th century Wallachia right now and continue this here novel of mine . . .

See you later!

Into The Heart Of Darkness

Well, I've sailed up the river and gone native . . . on my practice novel, that is. Although I'm still puttering away on the first chapter (only 3,500 words in, as of this writing), I'm having a blast so far. The story is invading most of my waking moments, and practically all of my sleeping ones as well.

And do you know what surprises me?

How much FUN I'm actually having! No, I mean seriously, taking on this huge project was very daunting to me back when I started to do the research and craft the first of many drafts of my outline. But now that I've actually started the *real* writing, it's been the most amazing experience. Now, sure, ask me again how I feel a month from now and perhaps I'll have a different outlook. But for now, living in this world and seeing what happens next is more exciting than playing my PS3. More exciting than even the original game this book is based on -- and that's saying a LOT!

I think what's also surprising me is just how smoothly the prose is flowing off my fingertips, a truer sign than any that I'm having fun as I write. Despite the fact that I'm writing much more slowly each day than my usual pace with short stories. I expect this will pick up as I get drawn even deeper into this world of 15th century Romanian horror, folklore, and politics . . . seriously, what's not to like about all that?

I'm debating whether or not to put a word counter on this blog, to update you all on my progress as I write. I have ambivalent feelings on the issue, so give me a few days to decide the matter one way or the other.

For now just know that I haven't collapsed into a heap of anguish and tears. Not yet, anyway. It helps that I have a very well-developed story that I fleshed out and elaborated upon numerous times over the past year. Knowing what my main themes are, plus how a majority of my separate lines will tie together by the end, helps tremendously in giving the direction I need to steer this ship on its proper course. If I run aground at any point, you probably won't hear about it. I doubt I'll be blogging much while I'm in the thick of things.

But on happy days like this one, where the writing is fresh and smart as it has been so far, I'll gladly keep you all abreast of my thoughts and temperament.

I mean, what more do you people want from me, eh? :)

Have a good weekend everybody!

One Or Two Quick Notes

Won't have much time to blog over the next several weeks, so I thought I'd catch you up on a couple of items:

First,  if you didn't catch my blog update yesterday, AMC premiered their new zombie series "The Walking Dead" last night -- and oh what a doozy of a pilot episode it was.

It was AWESOME! It was 90 minutes long, and I didn't get to watch it until close to midnight . . . but I was riveted the entire time! I had only intended to watch 30 mins or so, but ended up just staying put on the couch straight through from the opening to the ending credits. Not many shows can keep me interested right off the bat and for that long of a stretch.

Honestly, if you like dystopians and zombies and survival movies all rolled into one weekly serial, you're doing yourself a huge disservice by missing this show. The make-up and creature effects were just simply out of this world -- the best zombies I've ever seen, even better than a Romero movie! And Frank Darabont, the developer and producer of the series, also directed this pilot. This is the guy who directed The Shawshank Redemption people, perhaps the greatest movie of all time.

Do yourself a favor and WATCH THIS SHOW! If you need to, click on the link above for the trailer.

And secondly . . .

Yes, fear not. I did indeed start the novel last night, despite all the blog updates and tv show watching. Since we don't have any kids to fuss over, Halloween is a non-event in the Batista household. So just like I said it would, work has officially begun on my horror-fantasy manuscript on this All Hallows' Even. I didn't get very far into the opening chapter (which in fact will probably end up being chapter 7 or 8 when the actual book is done and ordered). I was met with some major stumbling blocks that needed overcoming, which hampered my usual writing speed of 800 words per hour. Mostly big picture decisions like narrative tone and atmosphere, which I generally get a good read on right out the gate on short stories, but which seemed like a much more daunting task at the start of an actual big novel like this one.

Then there was also the huge weight of the undertaking, my first ever attempt at a novel. I spent most of an hour simply worrying about the proper way to start off the chapter. Finally, in the end, it all came together well enough as I conquered my anxieties and the words started to flow.

Unfortunately, it was already late and the rest of the chapter was going to require my full energy and alertness for some pretty intense action scenes coming up. I thought it best to call it a night at this point, and to continue the next day after work . . . which is what I'll be doing tonight. Right now I'm exactly 502 words in after one day's attempt.

So, one day down -- 59 more to go!

Music To Set The Mood

Well, it's getting closer to the start date of my novel. You know, the novel based on the 3rd NES game in the Castlevania series?

To get myself properly ready for this humongous undertaking, I went and found copies of the soundtracks for the first 4 games in the series -- Castlevania I, II, III, and IV -- and transferred them all over to my iTunes library. I plan to listen to the Dracula's Curse soundtrack on heavy rotation as I write seeing as, you know, my novel will be based on this particular title. But, honestly, all 4 soundtracks serve the same purpose: to get my head back into what it felt like to play these wonderfully atmospheric games when I was a kid.

If you would like to get your hands on the same tracks, just head on over to the Castlevania Crypt where you'll find all the info you ever wanted on all the games. For soundtracks, click on the "GAMES" menu and select which game you want. Then, once on that game's page, select "Soundtrack" from the sub-menu on the right.

As for my novel, writing begins tomorrow on Halloween. Oh, how fitting!

More Research . . .

I realized tonight that I'm going to need to do more research for the practice novel, this time reading up on the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in particular the Romanian Patriarchate. Although, since the story takes place in 15th century Wallachia, the Orthodox authority in that country was still a Metropolis answering to the Constantinople Patriarchate, technically making it still part of Greek Orthodoxy.

Hmmm, seems I have my work cut out for me. But I think this is all such fascinating reading material. Can't wait to dig in!

Luckily, I don't need this information for the first chapters I will be writing starting next week. The characters who will benefit the most from this research won't have their chapters written until after the holidays, I think. Phew! Gives me plenty of time to do more reading -- yay!

And, on the off chance anyone reading this might know more on the subject -- or if you can point me in the direction of some good books -- please leave a comment! I can use the help.

I Have To Dig Myself Out Of This Self Doubt

So, I know I'm supposed to be gearing up to begin writing my practice novel, right? And I know I just mentioned back in this entry that I was going to take a quick break in order to switch gears and write another short story, right?

Well, here's the reason why:

Still Plotting . . .

For those of you wondering about my progress on the "practice novel" as first mentioned here -- don't worry, I'm still chugging along.

I know I said I would start writing the darn thing on the first of the month, but actually I'm still outlining/plotting. I'm not stuck or anything, just taking things very carefully. The whole point of preparing my notes before I write is so that I minimize as many inevitable errors as I can right now, when the plotting is more fluid. But things are slowly falling in to place and I can begin to see the overall picture and tone of the story I want to tell.

In other words, I've not given up yet. If anything, I'm getting more and more psyched for this novel as I plan it. I'm discovering that I'm really liking the scope of freedom writing a novel affords over a short story. So many fun and interesting story threads I get to weave together! With multiple POVs and thematic arcs aplenty.

Now if I can just pull it all off . . .

In any event, I will keep updating on my progress, including when I eventually start the actual writing of the novel. After that, I'll probably keep mums on the affair as I doubt I'll be updating this blog much during that time period.

I won't completely disappear, to be sure. You'll still get a musing or observation on every day life here and there. Maybe even the occasional movie review or two. But, yeah, once I get truly cracking on this thing, I think even my own wife won't be seeing much of me.

Scary!

Coming Along . . .

Just plotted a few more chapters tonight (this morning). Slowly but surely, I'm shaping this novel into something that might actually turn out GOOD! It's amazing how much I'm learning and revising about the story as I go along.

For instance: Did you know that a newly killed deer tastes like fresh apples to a vampire who's been "in the dirt" for the last 50 years or so?

I know, right? How WOULD YOU KNOW THIS????

But that's why I'm figuring this all out, people. So that you won't have to. Because I think freshly killed humans taste like hamburgers and milk shakes to vampires.

And, you know: Mmmmmm . . . burgers. Milkshakessssss!

To Build A Novel

Lately I've been mentioning this "practice" novel I'm working on. I explained it all here in this entry last month, so I won't retread all the details. Anyway, I've mentioned on Facebook that I've started an outline of the book last week. But it's come to light now that I really didn't need an outline, per say, since the general plot had already been laid out in my head months ago. You see, I've been working on it so much in my head since last September that I already had a pretty good barebones outline of my course of action vis-a-vis plotting and thematic arcs.

So, faced with the redundancy of actually writing all that down, I changed tactics. Instead of an outline, I would do chapter summaries. I broke down what I already knew of the general plot into three acts, plus a climax. The denouement portion, or wrap-up, at the end of the novel I'm going to leave up to the gods of the nether region for now. That part's pretty easy, at least on this particular project. It's one of those things that will get resolved once I get there, and it won't do any good worrying over it now.

So, instead, I've spent the last several days fleshing out the chapter layouts for the first act. The writing is vague but the structure is nice. I now have a working game plan for the beginning of the novel. What's great about writing out your chapter summaries first is that you get to test and balance all the various elements--action, suspense, characterization--without fully committing to the writing just yet. Getting to see what works and what fails before even writing "for reals" is a great advantage to have for the first time novelist like myself. Chapter summaries also allow me to mess with the order of events, since they are small nuggets of text that are easy to rearrange in Word until you get the proper pacing you want. Very, very kewl!

As of right now, I'm still at the beginning of the novel. I have a lot more chapter summaries to write. It's probably going to take me the rest of February to complete. But the up side is that, when I do complete them, I'll be ready to start writing the novel almost immediately.

So far the developments that have come to light as a result of this preliminary work have been fascinating. I mean, I'm the writer and even I'm amazed by what I'm reading! Sure, I know the overall story, but not the details. And sometimes--more often than you might think--I find myself pleasantly surprised by a particular plot development I had not seen coming. One that makes the surrounding scenes connect on levels I had never imagined. So working on these summaries is like reading a brand new book for the first time. A book in which I get to choose my own outcome.

It's times like these that I remember just how much fun it is to be a writer.

Prelim Work On The Novel Continues Apace . . .

As I've mentioned on numerous occasions, I'm working on a practice novel. I call it "practice" because--although I will be putting as much effort, research, and planning into the writing of this as I would a *REAL* novel--the subject matter and barest of outlines is being taken from an already existing property. To wit: Konami's excellent 1990 NES video game, Castlevania III.

Because I'm fleshing out the story a great deal--which entails adding a lot of different facets to the rather thin game storyline--most of the last few months have been spent conducting careful research. In addition to playing the game over again from start to finish, recording it to DVD, and conferring with various game maps and player's guides, I've also been putting in some scholarly research into the actual life and times of the historical Vlad Dracula, whom may or may not be the same man masquerading about in the game as the Prince of Eternal Night. About roughly half the story will deal with the political realities of the era in which Castlevania III takes place, none of which was even briefly hinted at in the game.

If I can pull it off, I plan to weave both halves--the game's existing plot and the historical politics--into one entertaining quilt work, adding poignant character studies and lots of twists and turns along the way.

At least, that's the plan.

Given all of the above, it's plain to see that this is in fact a real novel for me. Due to copyright issues and such, naturally, I won't ever be able to sell this work or publish it legitimately . . . but I daresay I'll gain a ton of valuable writing experience from the project.

So, this is a novelization folks. A media tie-in, if you will. I'm not stealing anything, and I'm not making a profit off of the hard work of Konami's employees. The writing itself will be wholly original, however, expounding upon themes not exactly covered in the game. Still, the major characters and the basic progression of the action scenes will be based largely on an already existing work.

I cannot stress this part enough.

Now, that being all said . . . I hope you are as excited as I am to begin this endeavor. I have a bit more prep work to do before I get started. I still need to do an outline and explore some of the minor characters and what-not. But the general plot and themes have already been mapped out at this point. As much as they can be for a work not yet in progress. I'm looking at a start date sometime later this year.

Keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of what to expect. I wrote the following brief synopsis in the form of a book flap preview -- the type of thing you might find at the back of a book describing the general precepts behind the novel you are about to read (in my case, write). I wrote this just to wrap my head around the more salient points and to provide a sort of guidepost for me, beyond which boundaries I SHALL NOT STRAY!

If all goes well, this may end up being my actual novel synopsis. Although I'm quite sure I'll edit it a lot before I'm done. But, yes, this may just be what you see on the back of the book if I decide to self-publish this as a not-for-profit chapbook. The attendant artwork might or might not be used as the cover as well.

-------------------------------------------------

*Synopsis*

DRACULA IS DEAD!

Or is he?

15th century Wallachia is on the brink of civil war. The great noble houses vie for control of the throne left empty by the demise of their prince, Vlad Dracula. Yet rumors persist of renewed activity at Dracula’s haunted mountain citadel. Dark clouds brew above the tallest parapets, while ungodly beasts stalk the forests below. Some say Dracula has turned strigoi—vampire!—and means to spread his unholy influence across all of Europe.

The people pray for a hero to appear. They whisper the name: Belmont!

Armed with a legendary heirloom bequeathed by his ancestors, Trevor Belmont answers the call. But if he ever hopes to see daylight again, he’ll need to enlist the aid of a motley trio of unlikely allies:

Grant the adventurer, charming and deadly with a dagger.

Sypha the warlock, cold and silent, master of the arcane arts.

And finally, Adrian—an enigmatic immortal who’s hatred of Dracula may surpass Trevor’s own.

In the highest tower above Castle Dracula, the Belmont clan's eternal foe patiently awaits. Can Trevor overcome the fiendish traps set before him? Or will he and his companions surrender their souls upon the treacherous battlements of . . .

CASTLEVANIA?

Skidmark Rejection

Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm!

That's the sound of my story getting rejected in less than 24 hours flat (it was 13 hours, to be precise).

Wow, that's the fastest rejection I've ever received! "It just didn't work for me" was the response from the editor.

Bummer.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I think I'm done shopping around this particular story. I mean, this was a high-paying pro market, and normally I would just submit to some token markets and probably get a marginal sale that way. But apparently, according to John Scalzi and most other pros, these token markets are not even worth bothering with. It seems that if a story is not good enough to sell in the better markets, it's just not good. Period.

I'm thinking of adopting this philosophy, which eliminates EVERY story I've written to date. Not one of them is that good. Even the two that have sold (which you can find at the top of this page's sidebar). In my opinion, nothing I'm writing right now is of sufficient standard to submit to the Pros or even Semi-Pros. What this means is that I have to put on hold all submissions and just continue to work on my craft in silent for a little while. According to what I see of my snail-like progress, this might last a few years. Maybe 4 at the most. I have a lot to learn.

But on the plus side I will continue to write. And every now and then I'll test the waters with something, sure. But I'm going to put a stop to this practice of sending every single story out to markets in the hopes that at least one will bite. It's not helping at all, and the only result I get is that maybe a token market or two will buy them. Which seems to be a waste of time according to my betters.

I have some ideas on how to switch gears and improve my writing faster. For one, I think it's time I move into high intensity crit-shopping. It will be brutal, but I think it's just what I need to get better.

But for now, all my current short stories are going to be put on hold. They all have premises that the old me way of thinking thought up. This will not do, so those stories will not do. I'll take a little breather and work on the Castlevania III novelization instead. It's my practice novel, and will flex different muscles from short story writing. This will most likely take up a good portion of the first half of this year, if not beyond. By the end of the year, I'll be in a better position to re-assess my short story failings and see what I can salvage from there.

First!

Don't really have anything to write about today. Just wanted to start off the brand new year with a blog entry, anemic though it may be. Guess I can voice some of my random musings, if nothing else:

Next week I return to work. Doesn't feel like I've had much of a 2-week vacation due to all the running around and errands I had to do, but it wasn't overly stressful either. That's always a good thing. Don't know that I'm ready to jump back into office work, though. I could probably use another month or two away. :)

Playing Uncharted 2 for the Playstation 3. What an awesome game! As of right now, I can't see how it can NOT be Game of the Year. 2nd place, imo, would go to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Most gamers would put Modern Warfare 2 in the 1st or 2nd slot, but while I thoroughly enjoyed the game, the single-player mode was simply too slim to qualify as a full-fledged game.

Looking ahead for the year, I think I'll be cutting back on short stories a bit and focusing more on the practice novel, which has yet to be started. I still have an outline to write before I jump into that experience, but I'm upbeat about it all. Rather exciting, actually.

Re: movies -- For the immediate future, I'm looking forward to The Book of Eli and Legion in the month of January. Clash of the Titans in March. Kick-Ass in April. And a slew of other films for the summer blockbuster season beginning in May, chief among them Iron Man 2! I don't know how 2010 will possibly top 2009 in overall movie awesomeness, but I'm willing to wait and see.

As for travel? I was thinking of cutting back on all the trips this year so that we can save more money. But there are just so many places I still want to visit! First and foremost, we almost definitely will be returning to Paris. We might even visit the south of France, if I can figure out how to make it work given that neither of us speak a lick of French. That's doable when you visit such an urbane and international metropolis like Paris; doesn't seem to work so well anywhere else in France, though. Unless I'm wrong.

Other possible destinations for the year include Rome and Naples; a Mediterranean cruise to the Greek Isles; a combo England/Scotland excursion; and Tunisia in northern Africa.

Realistically, we'll probably only get the France trip in. But if we can do a second, the Greece cruise sounds lovely to me.

Hmmm, I think I'm fresh out of musings right now. So anyway, here's to my very first post on the very first day of the new year. May there be many more!