Classics Update

I've mostly abandoned my public domain strategy for the moment. I think that I've now read many of the most obvious public domain classics, and the ones that remain are either daunting in their length (War and Peace, for example) or likely to be pretty awful (Warlord of Mars comes to mind). Way back in July, I downloaded Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey and I'm still struggling through it, reading a little each night, but always right on the verge of abandoning it. Every now and then there's a tiny hint of why it might have been popular in its era, like an exciting chase on horseback, but mostly the writing is just excruciating. He keeps hitting the same points over and over again, and the characters regularly launch into long speeches that would make Ayn Rand glance at her watch. And, while Tarzan is the most racist book I've read to date, Purple Sage is by far the most bigoted. Mormons are the villains here, save for a single good one, the leading lady Jane. Her faith has made her brave and charitable, but every other Mormon in the book are cowardly greedy schemers who steal Jane's horses so she'll have to get married. Also, none of them can hit the broad side of a barn, where as every "gentile" in the book can plug a sparrow at three hundred yards blindfolded and shooting from horseback. I'm determined to see the book through to it's bitter end, hoping that, like Tarzan, it might surprise me on the last page and somehow redeem itself.

Luckily, before bogging down in Sage, I raced through two awesome books, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five. Slaughterhouse Five was definitely the better of the two, daring in scope and beautifully honest in its absurdity. Cat's Cradle was funnier, but it's broad humorous strokes took away some of the plausibility for me. There were times when characters did things not because it was the realistic thing for them to do, but because it was the funny thing for them to do. Still a brilliant book.

In audio, I've listened to Of Mice and Men, another wonderful book, though not as interesting as Grapes of Wrath. I suppose that's the danger of writing one of the greatest books of all time; everything else is, by definition, not as great. But, on the subject of great books, I finally listened to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Holy cow! This book was stunning it was so good. The style and voice were impressive, the story had real heart, and the characters kept showing one more layer of depth just as you thought you knew all there was to know about them. The only downside to the book was it's blatant misogyny. While the male characters are allowed to be characters, every woman in the book is one dimensional. The "good" women are prostitutes, giving their bodies to any man who wants them, thus making men stronger and healthier. The "bad" women in the book are the wives and mothers who exist solely to castrate the men with their words. The book's villain, the Big Nurse, is given no motivation for her cruelty other than speculation that, since she never married, she's never been forced to submit to a man sexually. She has desexualized herself and now exists to unman the men. The protagonist's final "triumph" over her is little more than attempted rape, as he rips open her uniform to reveal her breasts.

Despite the book's flaws, I still think it's going to assume a place among my pantheon of favorite books. The good points of the novel outweigh the bad. I emerged from the book with a renewed purpose as a writer to always, always fight against the "Combine."

Currently I'm listening to On the Road; I'll write more about it when I'm done, but I'm hitting a point where the plotless nature of the book is starting to wear on me. The style is wonderful, but it would be nice if there were even a tiny hint of direction.

On a side note, I did deviate from my classics only rule for the year recently with two books. First, I listened to Alethea Kontis's novel Enchanted as an audio book. It's really the best audio performance I've yet encountered. The book itself is also really good, though I suspect I may be the wrong gender and age to really fall in love with the story. The majority of the plot is built around a series of royal balls, and there's a whole lot of words devoted to describing the dresses worn by every woman in the book, and there are a lot of them. Fortunately, the book is funny, so there are plenty of rewards for putting up with all the talk about dresses.

Finally, I listened to Mary Roach's new book Gulp. I'd read Bonk and Stiff and found them excellent. Gulp didn't disappoint; it was exactly the sort of non-fiction book that has dominated my reading choices for the last decade, full of quirky, interesting facts, put together in such a way that it makes you feel as if every aspect of humanity can be understood simply by studying what we put into our bodies, and what comes out. I'll definitely be looking for more books like this once I'm through my year of classics.

Free Bitterwood Audio Books!

Audible has generously provided me with some free downloads of Bitterwood for me to distribute to reviewers. I wanted to first offer these to readers of my blog. Dave Thompson does a pretty sweet job of narrating a challenging book, switching between 8 year old girls and 100 year old sun dragons with flair. If you've read Bitterwood before, this is a great chance to revisit the book. If you've only read my Dragon Apocalypse novels or superhero stuff, this is a good chance to discover my older series. All I ask in exchange is a review.

If you're interested, just drop me a line at nobodynovelwriter (at) yahoo.com.

Accidental Gods, draft one, is done! 61k words!

Wahoo! I finished Accidental Gods #1, the Confessions of Cut-Up Girl just a few minutes ago. The first draft is 61k words long; if experience holds, it will probably grow closer to 75k in the final draft as I fill in sketchy scenes with more sensory details.

I'm still a little stunned by what I've done. I remember for years I boasted that I wrote Nobody Gets the Girl in 45 days. What a slacker I was then!

But, I also know that, having these four relatively obligation free day spaced together so closely is a rare thing. I doubt I'll have many opportunities in life to duplicate this experience.

Still, I can't help but dream... what's next? Could I lock myself in a room for a single weekend and manage to crank out a whole book if I had everything just right, like an outline and all my facts prechecked? No internet connection? (I lose so much time succumbing to temptation to look up random facts, like how many revolutions a second a helicopter blade spins, stuff I could just annotate for later research, but instead decide to look up, then check my email, then check facebook, and before I know it I've lost ten minutes. Stupid internet!)

I will also say that, physically, I'm not sure my hands would survive two back to back writing sessions like the ones I just did. Hopefully, my fingers will stop tingling my the morning. To that end, I'll stop typing now.

Seriously.

Done for the day.

Stop reading.

Day three of Accidental God: 16745 words

16745 words today. Characters completely took over and started making their own choices and I just typed what they told me too.

Also, possibly, I have gone insane.

Too tired to judge.

Done type now.

Sleep.

Sle...

Accidental Gods Day Two: 15561 words

Just finished my second 15k+ day of the week. The novel is possibly half done. Tonight I found myself facing the prospect that the first draft might require more than the 60k words I had planned. But, maybe not. Today's 15k didn't take me to the end of this section of Cut-Up Girl's life, but this was always the section I had the most content for. I'm not sure the 15k will come as easily for the last two segments, so it's good that I still have plenty to write on this phase of the story. When I start back Friday, I feel pretty sure the first 5k words will flow pretty fast.

Accidental Gods Day one: 15686 words

In my previous post, I said I'd be posting the material I wrote to my blog in an effort to keep myself honest. I've changed my mind about that for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I still believe that readers are precious beings who shouldn't be abused by making them read through a first draft, typos and all. Second, the whole "keeping myself honest" reason is a little stupid. What the hell do I have to gain by lying about my word count?

There's also the fact that I'm writing the first draft in a mostly linear form, but plan for the final book to have a non-linear structure. So, yesterday, I wrote all of Cut-Up Girl's life story from her early childhood to age 17. Tomorrow, I'll be writing about her years as Chopper's partner; Friday, I plan to tackle her celebrity years after her secret identity is revealed. Next week, I'll be writing her end game, where she unravels the lingering mysteries of her past and goes through the important confrontations that will allow her to put her past behind her.

In the final draft, my goal is to interweave all the four major plot lines so that the narratives are unfolding simultaneously, or at least as simultaneously as is possible in prose. So, a scene from when she's twelve might transition to a scene from her twenties then lead back into a scene from when she was seventeen as key events trigger memories and connections for Cut-Up Girl as she narrates her own story.

I've never tried producing a book with a non-linear structure before, but welcome the challenge. I'm doing a lot of things differently with this book, trying to break away from the standard ways I normally construct my chapters and plots. This is a risky move... I feel like I've gotten pretty good at writing novels built around conventional plot structures. But, you can't grow as a writer if you don't try new things. Most important, the structure is really growing out of Cut-Up Girl herself, whose personality is somewhat fragmented. She's someone who has trouble explaining herself to the rest of the world, with everything she reveals about how she made her life choices only raising more questions. You won't be able to see her by studying a single thread; her threads have to be woven into a complete tapestry for us to see the whole picture.

I feel good about tomorrow, confident I can do 15k again. The next section of her life is the one I feel I most understand, though it's also the trickiest content since its the part of the book that focuses on the least likable character in the book. Chopper is just a creep; a sadistic vigilante with a racist streak and a pervert to boot. But, he's also the man Cut-Up Girl falls in love with during this part of her life. I've got less than 24 hours to fall in love with Chopper myself, so that I can show him as something deeper than a stereotype. A tough task... but that's what makes it interesting.

A Novel in Four Days: The Cut-Up Girl Game Plan

This post is one I've agonized over. I frequently post goals on my blogs as a way of giving myself a little extra accountability. A goal you keep secret isn't as motivational. If you don't hit it, who will know? Some of my goals work out well. I announced I would write Burn Baby Burn in a week, and I did. On my other blog, I announced I would lose 20 pounds in three months, and wound up losing 37. But, later, I announced I'd get to a target weight of 220 by the end of June. Today, I'm at 225, a pound heavier than when I announced that goal.

This morning, I'm announcing my most aggressive writing goal yet: I plan to write a novel in four days. Not four consecutive days, mind you. But, I know from experience that, if I duct tape myself to a chair and make myself write, I can get north of 10k words in a day. I've made it over 13k words a day before. So, my goal for writing my new superhero novel is to write 15k words a day. Four days of this will give me my 60k word novel.

I also know that intense writing days always drain me. If I write 10k words plus one day, my chances of putting out that many words the next day are seriously compromised. So, I'll be building in rest periods and writing every other day. I plan to write on July 1, 3, 5, and 8. I'll post the raw first draft to this blog each night. This goes against my rule that writers shouldn't show people their first drafts. Honestly, I'm not posting it in hopes that people will read it. I'm posting it to keep myself honest.

I'm not under contract on this book, so I have no real deadlines. So, why choose such a crazy approach? First, I still like the results of writing fast for Burn Baby Burn. Yeah, I can point to flaws in the book that likely came from the speed I wrote it, but I can also point to passages that are some of the most honest and emotional moments I've ever allowed myself to write. Writing fast helps me get past my internal filters and write more from the heart than from the head. Second, I feel like artists should always push themselves to try new things. I know I can write a book if I give myself four months to crank it out. But four days? Can it be done?

In the end, there's only one way to find out....