My (Bizarre, Embarassing, Illustrated) Writing Process

Well, guys, let me tell you: when my good buddies Daniel Bensen and Libby McGugan tagged me into this fun little game, I wasn't sure what to write.  It sounds dumb, but I've been having so much fun lately that I'm half-wondering if everyone is grinding their teeth at what an insufferable bloviating ass I've become, and it's kind of hard to follow that up with "but let's talk more about what's really important here: me."

Nevertheless: the name of the game is #MyWritingProcess, and I am excited to play!

What am I working on?

The sequel to One Night in Sixes, enticingly titled Medicine for the Dead.  It's already written, but I'm hoping to do a bit more spit-and-polish between now and August.

100% unofficial sneak cover preview!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Oh, golly.  Well, if the genre is "epic fantasy", then I guess my books have an exceptionally high Stetson quotient.  If the genre is "fantasy Western", then about the most I can say is that I'm less interested in black hats, white hats, six-guns and monsters than I am in using fantasy power (magic) as a way to think about real-world power (identity and culture, and how those can be used for good or evil.)  And so we arrive at "rural fantasy": a sorcerous, dust-crusted tale in which we don't spend much time dancing with wolves or defending winsome ranchers' daughters, but still manage to have one hair-raising hell of a time.

Why do I write what I do?

Well, I love writing, and early reports indicate that it's even more fun when people like your writing and will even pay you for it!

But to be honest, what I'm really in love with is the idea that... you know, every plot device in the world has been used since Aristotle was a lad - but not so for people.  Even in 2014, there are SO many people who see themselves in fiction very rarely, badly, or not at all.  And the realization that there are still millions of readers who are desperately thirsty to see themselves as center-stage heroes and villains and romantic ideals is a tremendous shame - but also a stunning opportunity.  It is a gold-filigree promise that there are LOTS of fresh new stories itching to be told - and the thought that I could contribute, even a little bit, to filling some of these huge gaping empty spaces on our bookshelves is such a powerful draw.  It's the one thing that makes this what I'm doing feel bigger than me and my own ego - and if I manage to write something that brings even one new fan in to the fantasy aisle, I will know for a fact that I have Done Good.

How does my writing process work?

Well, I feel a bit unqualified to talk like I have some kind of System, because in a lot of ways, this still feels like my first-ever project.  But if you want to follow the Tex Thompson Winning Formula for Writers™, here it is!

1.  Spend last two years of high school (1999-2000) writing massive, 170,000-word fantasy novel, set in Vaguely Plastic Medieval Animeland.  Draw and model characters in animation class.

Seriously, guys - it was REALLY anime.

(But Elim was cute even way back when.)

2.  Four-year hiatus for college and Everquest.  (2000-2004.)

Sorry / not sorry.

3. Take a year and a half to reboot the story in "started-as-outline-and-mutated-into-weirdly-crappy-screenplay" format.  (2004-2005)

INT. HOPELESS WORD DOC - PAGE 89.

4.  Two-year hiatus to finish grad school and attempt employment.  (2005-2007)

5.  Get the idea to ditch Vaguely Plastic Medieval Animeland and try setting the story in a world based on the American Southwest.

Winter view from the Acoma Sky City in New Mexico. 
It's amazing what happens when you leave your hobbit-hole to see the world.

6.  Take three and a half years to write a 314,309-word doorstopper of a tome, while working in food service. (2007-2010)

Hair net optional. Smokes on the loading dock required.

7.  Realize that you are neither Patrick Rothfuss nor Susanna Clarke, and cannot pitch a 300,000-word novel with a straight face.

8.  Break off first third, and spend two years rewriting and revising it in the Cave of Solitude.  (2010-2012)

Which occasionally doubles as the Cave of Obstructive Neediness.

9.  Make New Year's Resolution to grow a personality. (2012)

10.  Join writers' workshop in January (2012), attend writers' conference in May, sign with Agent of Your Dreams in August, go out on submission in January (2013), sign with Fairy Godpublisher in July for release in July (2014).  Commence building a massive vault for wallowing in future royalty checks.

(work in progress)

And that brings us to today, gentle friends.  Medicine for the Dead is the second piece of that original 300,000-word monstrosity, completely rewritten and slated for release in March 2015.  Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be able to do the as-yet-unnamed Return of the Jedi the year after.

And while I imagine that all this above is of extraordinarily limited utility to anyone who isn't me, I would like to state for the record that:

• you totally can write a 300,000-word book and get it published (just maybe not all at once.)
• you totally can sell your first-ever story (just maybe not in its first-ever incarnation.)
• you totally can go from completely clueless newbie to reasonably bad-ass writer. (It just might take you ten or fifteen years to do it.)

So if that affords any comfort to anybody who's still running that first long race, then by all means - let me be the dixie-cup of Powerade you throw in your face on your way to deathless glory!

And introducing...

Three of my great friends and fellow fantasians, who will be posting their own #MyWritingProcess entries soon.  Beat the rush and check out their blogs: it's too late to say you knew them before they were cool, but you definitely want to be able to say you knew them before they were mainstream!

Born in 1987, Hackney, London, Shay suffered a major mishap at the age of two when she came across a pencil and sheet of paper. Twenty odd years later, you could say the result from that encounter was having her right hand replaced with a Bic Pen - blue if she can help it. (Hence her Blue Bic Blog and chic matching @bluebicblog)

As a stay at home mum raising a crazier reincarnation of herself, Shay often delves into the world of Young Adult/Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but when escapism is compulsory, she’s not afraid to pen the wEiRd either…

Mom of 2, wife of 1 and aspiring writer of fiction. Veena loves writing about vampires, werewolves and female heroines who are kick-ass, flawed and always breaking the rules.  Find her at VeenaKashyap.com and on Twitter as @VeenaKWriter and @AuthorVisitsVK

David Goodner’s life-long love of books has carried him through a degree in English from UTA and over a decade of cataloging in the Arlington Public Library.  His love of storytelling has carried him through 30+ years of gaming and writing.

He writes speculative fiction that’s a little (okay, a lot) off kilter both for adults and for children.  He’s on the board of the DFW Writers Workshop, which is not as impressive as it sounds.

Check him out at davidgoodner.com.  Follow him on twitter @RDGoodner.  He’ll probably follow you back.

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, lad: the strongest castle in all of England.

Blog Blitz and Oatmeal Cookies (Reprise)

Oh BOY.

Well, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the response to my last post was like slamming into the Internet at 120 mph, if the airbag were full of love and blog comments.  (Whereupon it would be called a 'love-pillow', of course, because 'comment-cushion' is unwieldy and 'blog-sack' sounds like something to be discreetly handed to a flight attendant.)

So if you came here from the Blog Blitz: thank you so, so much for visiting, and for all your wonderful notes.  I am steadily working my way through them, and will be on cloud nine million for days to come.  You guys are AMAZING.

Conversely, if you are wondering what the merry hell a Blog Blitz is... you are not alone, because I didn't either!

Here is the deal: the gentleman-scholar DL Hammons, not content with ringmastering WRiTE Club, also devised a wonderful blogging group, subscribable by email, in which everyone dog-piles on a single participant's blog.  The result is catastrophically awesome.  You are a celebrity for a day!  Traffic through the roof!  Comments out the yang!  And really a heck of a good deal: even apart from that one magical day when you are so ecstatically piled-upon, you are visiting other people's blogs as a pile-ee, and subscribing to those you find fun and interesting.  It's a great way to meet new people, broaden your horizons, and be an integral part of somebody's joy, every time you comment.  So if that sounds like even a little bit of fun... sign up and get your Blitz on!

And on a personal note - I was truly blown away by the comments on the last post.  In fact, there is material for about twenty different conversations there, and more amazing (and sometimes gut-wrenching) anecdotes than any one post can do justice to.  When it comes to charity, why DO we do what we do, and think like we think?

Well, based on some of the responses from that last post, here are a couple of aggregated guesses.

It's harder to give when you don't see who you're giving to.  This is probably why the TV commercials take such pains to show actual video of actual hungry babies / destitute families / etc.  This is also probably why it is SO freaking easy for so many of us (and I include myself in this) not to see need in our everyday lives.  When you are safely contained almost 24/7 in your house, your office, or your car, what opportunity do you have to notice the people outside the bubble?  How the dickens are we supposed to see what our own community needs when the system has closed us off into so many coffee shops and Camrys and cubicles?  We're not oblivious cretins - but we live in societies that constantly and actively segregate us from our fellow Earth-persons.

It's harder to give when you feel like it won't make a difference.  This is a big one.  That girl I met had found a family who would take her in as long as she could provide her own food and hygiene.  They would set her up a bank account and let her live there for four months while she looked for work - so it was incredibly easy to want to help her get that one crucial foothold up into a better life.  Much, much harder to do that when you know that no matter how much you give the panhandler at the intersection, he'll be there tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

It's harder to give when you feel like it won't be appreciated.  Taking care of your sweet widowed grandma who loves you and everything you do for her?  Doable.  Doing likewise for an angry, senile old bat who spits, thrashes, and screams for help every time you have to hold her down for a diaper change?  That's a tall order.  It's hard to feel generous when the object of your generosity is indifferent, complacent, or takes it for granted.  I have no doubt that those feelings multiply with distance - when real living people are reduced to payroll deductions, or checks in the mail.

It's harder to give when you don't understand the need.  "Why would you have kids you can't support?"  "Why can't you get a job?"  "Why don't you just go to the emergency room and make them treat you?"  I think this is where the Golden Rule breaks down - where we end up assuming that the person on the other end must or should have our same set of skills, values, and abilities (and that our understanding of their reality is both complete and correct.)  Obviously people do make poor decisions.  But it would require the omnipotence of an almighty living god to know how much to assign to bad choices or character, and how much is the result of circumstances beyond anyone's control.  And frankly, most of us are hard-pressed just to figure out where we left our keys last night.

It's harder to give when you are scared.  Boy, isn't this the truth.  It's very easy to feel safe letting a tiny 100-pound girl into your car.  Altogether more difficult with a 6'5" Peyton Manning stunt-double.  And on a grander scale - it's incredibly difficult not to tighten your fist when you are worried that you could lose your own security, or when you feel like there's not enough (of money or space or jobs or whatever) to go around.  That's when the hoarding mentality kicks in, and generosity dies.

Of course, the world is full of bright, motivated philanthropists who have not yet managed to eliminate any of these problems.  But I think knowing about them, and recognizing them AS problems, leaves us far better equipped to question our assumptions and actively work against the impediments to our natural compassion.

And if you read this far, thanks hugely for humoring me through this epic double navelgazing extravaganza.  Regular programming resumes next time!

Let he who has never eaten a cookie... cast the first block of government WIC cheese.

The Next Big Thing: One Night in Sixes

Not going to lie: getting invited to participate in my very first blog hop is pretty dang exciting.  It's like I can close my eyes and hear Oprah asking the questions.  (A book club selection?  Oh, O, you shouldn't have!)

Ten thousand thanks to K.E. Skedgell for officially tagging me in to the Cool Kids Club.  Here we go!

What is your working title of your book?

One Night in Sixes.  Because some hack already took Tombstone, and The Good, the Bad, and the Amphibious doesn't have the right 'snap'.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I'll be straight: I've rebooted this book more times than I care to count.  The idea for the successful version came about when I quit saying, "okay, now I have all these cool characters lined up, what will I make them do?" and said, "okay, so there's a cowboy and a salesman trying to trade some horses – what goes wrong?"

What genre does your book fall under?

I've heard epic fantasy, historical fantasy, and Weird Western, but probably the best thing to call it is "rural fantasy."

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Well, right now I'm thinking Big Macintosh for the lead.


(With a big tip o' the hat to Lauren Faust, Hasbro, and GeneralZoi's Pony Creator, into which I have now poured several extremely pleasurable hours.)

I kid, of course.  But let's face it, re-imagining the cast as ponies is probably more fun for the casual observer than me waxing wishful about Max Pirkis and Rudy Youngblood.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

"It's a cowboys-and-Indians story, except that the cowboy's accidentally shot an Indian, and if the victim's family doesn't come after him, the fishmen will."

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am the *luckiest* SOB in the world, because I am represented by none other than the Agent of My Dreams, Jennie Goloboy at Red Sofa Literary.  Don't hate me because she's beautiful.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Let me put it like this: if my book was a person, it'd be old enough to read itself.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I can't say The Rose of the Prophet, because that's too obscure.

I can't say The Dark Tower, because that's too awesome.

I can't even say True Grit, because that's not fantasy.

So I'll just have to say, "oh, I couldn't possibly – it's too devastatingly original, you see!" while thrusting Firefly and The Wire DVDs at you under the table.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My fellow Americans, let me be real.  We are citizens of the most seminal, exceptional, infinitely improbable nation on earth.  But our history is a radiation that has been seeping into our bones for five hundred years.

This story is about people who are literally, supernaturally altered by the world they were born into and the cultures they've inherited. And about the only thing worse than what that prompts them to do to each other is what they've already done to themselves.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

In the fantasy genre, Molly Boone would not be considered an exceptional horse.  She can't fly or fight or be summoned by an ocarina, and she doesn't have a telepathic bond with anybody.  But I am proud as hell to say that she has already inspired a MapleStory character of the same name, and I think the old girl is well on her way to a storied career.

That reminds me, I have an e-mail to write.

In the meantime, you should absolutely check out five of my very favorite fellow bloggers, to whom I bequeath this meme:

Lena Frank, who writes the WEIRDEST Westerns I have ever seen!
Matthew Borgard, the Man of Many Muses (and seriously brain-stimulating blog posts)
Jamie Wyman, who is Schtupping my ego AS I TYPE
Cynthia McGean, the mythological creature known as The Teacher Who Still Makes Time to Write

and the mysterious masked figure known only as... The Sneaky Burrito


So maybe the better question is, am I the kind of brass-balled swindling son of a bitch you want to do business with?