Check out the cool Van Gogh picture to the left. Using high intensity X-Rays, Scientists discovered the face over which Van Gogh painted Patch of Grass. Cool. Even cooler is, unlike scientists at Delft University, you’re the one adding the layers and your readers get to uncover them. I’m a little over a third of […]
Layers and Texture – Revising Your Writing Read Post »
Knowing what I know now, I’ll be happy to blow out a disjointed, gangly mongrel of a first draft in the future if only to clear my mental sinuses. I mean, if that’s what it takes to get a tighter second draft that I might actually enjoy reading, then sign me up. Lemme ‘splain: The
First Draft is a Snot Rocket. Read Post »
Nomad Khyrg al Wahid witnesses an airship crash in his arid highland home known as the Jashem. Two survivors emerge from the wreckage: an ethnographer and his assistant from Bogozechi, a dark industrial city rife with intrigue. Khyrg’s clan rival, Anwar ibn Masaud, having also followed the crash, arrives at the crash site moments later
Shadow of the Black City Blurb v.2 Read Post »
I didn’t know what to expect when I began revising the first draft of my first novel, Shadow of the Black City. Right now, I feel like I’ve got even more questions than when I began. Sweet. Truth is, it’s not all bad news. Sure there are page long deletions (alright, pages upon pages, but
The Revisionatrix is a Cruel (and Cool) Mistress. Read Post »
This week I reached two writing milestones: I submitted my first fantasy short story, The River Lords, for publication and I began revising the first draft of my first novel, Shadow of the Black City. Each of these milestones represents something different. The River Lords represents completing a project and putting it out there and,
Writing Milestones Read Post »
I wrapped up the first draft of my first novel three days ago. It felt good. Not great, but good. The following day, all I could think about was all the stuff that needed to be rethought, reworked and rewritten. The prospect of doing those things is daunting and exciting. I look forward to the
The imagery of this post’s title is awful, but I like the meaning. I’ve hared off and slung a whole bunch of words down on my laptop and am close to wrapping up the first draft of my first novel. Part of me thinks I should have studied more about the craft: plot, characterization, setting,
More than One Way to Skin a Cat Read Post »
I hit 100,000 words on the first draft of my first novel today and feel like I’ll have things wrapped up within the next 10,000 or so. My original goal was 100k by the end of August, with the idea that I’d also have a complete story. That gives me 11 days to get to
Just a quick question to all three of you who occasionally read this thing. I’m closing in on the end of my first draft and there are definitely elements where I feel like I’m swimming in a whole bunch of concepts, many of which seem disparate. At one point in my mind they seemed coherent,