Quill and Ink Corner: A writing thread for the Cobbies.

Maddy: I may have to do just that.

So I have dropped the confusing ugly feeling mess that was my opening and chosen to rewrite it from a point I understand.

Part of the opening I like the feel of and will keep. The rest though is going to be written from a perspective I understand. The ole write what you know line.

At this point my current project looks like it has been decimated with chopsticks. There are so many notes interjected between the lines of text that it looks like what happened to the lotus leaf dim sum last time I went with the Baroness. No prisoners.

Officially started work on the sequel to Margin Play this evening. Got about 1400 words down.

I just finished the first draft of my novel, The Cemetery Girl. It's at 283 pages, 105,485 words.

Awwwrrrrriiiiittttteeeeeee.

Welp, I guess the plan of publishing a book within this summer is failure, but I did something, all right. XP

droy: Grats.

I actually got some writing done last time I touched my story a whopping 2000 words whoo hoo.

So as soon as I have access to a printer which works, I will be hard-copying this and tacking it to the wall next to my computer. To remind me of several things in the course of working on my book series, all of which I want to remember.

In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong woman. But down these mean streets a lady must go who is not herself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

The detective in this kind of story must be such a woman. She is the hero, she is everything. She must be complete and common, and yet unusual. She must be, to use a rather un-weathered phrase, a lady of honor...by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. She must be the best woman in her world and a good enough woman for any world. I do not care much about her private life...she is neither a nun nor a nymph. I think she might seduce a duke and I am quite sure she would not spoil a virgin; if she is a woman of honor in one thing, she is that in all things.

She is a relatively poor woman, or she would not be a detective at all. She is a common woman or she could not go among common people. She has a sense of character, or she would not know her job. She will take no money dishonestly and suffer no insolence without due and dispassionate revenge. She is a lonely woman and her pride is that you will treat her as a proud woman or be very sorry you ever saw her. She talks as a woman of her age talks...that is, with rude wit, a lively sense of the grotesque, a disgust for sham, and a contempt for pettiness.

The story is her adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a woman fit for adventure. She has a range of awareness that startles you, but it belongs to her by right, because it belongs to the world she lives in.

If there were enough like her, I think the world would be a very safe place to live in, and yet not too dull to be worth living in.

For those of you who don't know, this is a gender-flipped excerpt from "The Simple Art of Murder", a canonical essay on crime fiction written by Raymond Chandler. I didn't have to change much if anything to make it applicable.

Offered without apology to Chandler's shade.

Grats to Drunk for writing a pretty good book. Detective novels are not my usual fare but he did a good job on this one. Good solid read, good characters, and made me want to know what was next in the works for Amber and crew. I also spied bits of pieces of things I have seen discussed or mentioned across the past couple years. Good job man.

So, with Na No Wri Mo coming up in about six weeks, what are everyone's plans for it?

What do you know, you are right.

Last year I wrote a story with two plot lines. Plot A was a guy and his sibling getting into urban fantasy adventure, and Plot B was 1st Ranger Battalion fighting in a fictional African coutry to hunt down a warlord.

It was pretty incoherent and this time I might try rewriting it so it might be more coherent and actually have something to do with each other. Rewriting isn't illegal, is it?

For the stated purpose of NaNoWriMo, yeah, rewriting isn't what you're supposed to be doing. It's primary purpose is to break down that wall of "But I can't write a whole book — there's just too much!" by making yourself put words on paper for a month or until you have a whole book's worth.

Oh. Well.

Not participating in Nano this year. I should look into Script Frenzy, though.

I am trying to decide if I actually want to try it, because November is supposed to be a major inspection for my command, and I usually write at work in between tasks.

Not sure if I'm going to try it again, and if so, what I'd try to tackle.

Recently I decided to do Na No again this year; it worked really well last year and I've got a couple of completely new projects I'd like to get down. Nobody panic, I won't abandon the Eckart Mysteries, but a guy needs a break now and then. :D

You better not let Amber wait.... I know where you live.

So is that a threat to grease the wheels with booze and entertainment?

If that's what it takes...

Dooo eeeet!

I am damn curious what Amber will get mixed up in next.

I am thinking of changing my approach to my story and making it a series of loosely connected Stories as in a series of related Short Stories.

I'm actually working on Naming the Hangmen right now, so as I said nobody has to panic. I've just got some other ideas I want to explore when Na No rolls around.

Ok, then.

Anyway, that sounds like an interesting approach, Teuf. I know that it's worked well for number of good authors.

edited 28th Sep '13 1:48:55 PM by Madrugada

I've been mulling over a comic which stalled because I couldn't find an artist. But I have finally teamed up with an artist who is not only reliable, and takes suggestions for changes well, but I like her style. Typing up the first five pages of a comic issue in Celtx.

Was sad to hear of Tom Clancy's passing. The man was one of my writer idols growing up, and a big inspiration for deciding to write books of my own. I'll have to hoist a pint in his honor.

The first 20-odd pages of my comic script is done, so that's one traditional paper issue out of a goal of two for January.

Webcomics have probably skewed my perception of comic storylines. Even for a standalone plot, this feels short. At least I'm looking it over with my artist friend and a fellow comic nerd.