Story - Chapter X^3
Friday, June 30, 2006 - 6:00 PM
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One of the WoW comic contest entrants caught my eye the other day. Funny stuff.
Today's post is the third and final of Chapter Ten. It's a full six pages long, making the chapter, to date, the longest chapter in the whole story. It also means that, for now, we're past the part that was giving me so much trouble. (It will rear its head again later, but I should be better-equipped to deal with it by then.) In the mean time, enjoy.
Story
Story: Chapter X
Friday, June 23, 2006 - 11:30 AM
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There's this great feeling when things start to fall together, when the ideas that you've been kicking (literally, almost) around in your head for a couple of weeks are suddenly flowing in a way that makes narrative sense. (One exception. Periodically, Horse's mind just has to wander to the next salient point.) That feeling happened last night, and again this morning. Here, without further ado, is the next (not last) three pages of Chapter Ten.
Actually, just a little more ado. I hate writing elves, because they always try to get all misty and high-fantasy in their speech. Casual dialogue is not easy for them, and it can be painful to write. Okay, no more ado.
Story
Why the rest of Chapter Ten isn't up yet
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 1:35 PM
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Aside from insane work (still, grr), this section of the story turned suddenly and unexpectedly into something which has thrown a whole lot of my planned plot, and a whole lot of my planned themes, akimba. That's been causing it to be nearly impossible for me to write - I'll sit down and stare at the notes I've got for minutes at a time, then give up and walk away. It's no fun for me either, trust me.
I'm rapidly reaching a point where I'm going to take the easy way out - I'm going to muscle through this section, while delaying actually dealing with the new themes and until later. Copping out, basically, but it means there'll be story posted within the next few days.
I'd like to put in a plug for the Albatros Bits mailing list, which you can sign up for here - it'll shoot you an e-mail as soon as I post something.
Sorry for the delay, folks. Writer's block is no fun for anyone, you-all included.
Discuss
Hi from crazy-land
Friday, June 16, 2006 - 5:10 PM
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Monday.
"Hey, Albatros."
"Hey boss. What's going on this week?"
"Well, I know we told you that this would be a pretty low-stress summer job when we hired you, but actually we need you to work nonstop for the next six days. Friday, particularly, is going to be the busiest, with the possible exception of Saturday."
"Wow. That sucks for my other deadlines."
"I know! Anyway, there's more - you know that story you write for that website you have?"
"Er... yeah..."
"Well, the part that you're writing this week is going to unexpectedly dive into philosophical issues which you haven't thought about properly since junior high. Also, you're not quite sure what the implications are for the themes of the story at large. So basically it's going to be really edifying writing, but also really time-consuming and tough."
"Ah."
"So good luck!"
"Thanks, boss."
* * *
I'm still working on this week's offering, and will be until probably very late tonight or tomorrow. Meanwhile, though, I thought I'd post the current rough-draft state of affairs, in case anyone is curious about what a half-way stage of my writing process looks like. (In a word: 'hectic'.) So if you'd like to see what the second half of Chapter X look like right now, a number of writing-hours away from completion, then follow the Discuss link below. There are major spoilers for the chapter, of course, since a lot of it is finished text and the rest of it is summary. If you want to wait for the final draft to go live, then don't click the discuss link!
Discuss
Mostly Just Inconvenient
Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 2:30 AM
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Yesterday, at some point while driving around doing stuff and getting stuff and generally being useful, I lost my USB flash drive. It has my mobile copy of Murloc on it, including a couple hours' worth of new writing on it that I hadn't gotten around to backing up anywhere, so I'm going to be up extra-late tonight and tomorrow's story might arrive a little later than normal. I'll do my best, though.
Anyway, what this means is that somewhere in Western Massachusetts is a thumb drive with my haphazard notes for "The Murloc is Lonely" on it, so if anyone finds it, you'll get such useful hints as "suyeta = chosen one in cherokee" and "'Well said, in a completely incorrect, overreacting kind of way,' grumbled Fang." ...plus the outline of the entire rest of the book. >.>
Discuss
Part Two - The Crown of the Earth
Friday, June 2, 2006 - 12:30 PM
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Since you guys have all been so patient with me during my move of INSANITY, and since my new job has loads less stress and loads more free time than my last one, I got all of Chapter Nine written for you today. It's got some exposition... some hints and some clues... and it contains - drum-roll please - the inaugural appearance of the oft-requested night elves! Probably not quite as you expected, though. Let me know what you-all think.
Story
Edit Alert
Friday, June 2, 2006 - 12:05 PM
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In preparation for starting Part Two, I went back and fixed a couple of things that I'd let slide in Part One, and I thought I should let you know.
The first one is relatively minor - at the part where Horse gets hit on the head by a mysterious lady rogue in Chapter Three, I switched some things up and toned down the import. The idea of having a clearly-drawn bad guy (gal) character from Horse's past tracking him for the whole of Book Two was appealing, but I decided that with Horse hopping on a hippogryph and flying north, it wouldn't work as well as I'd thought. So the rogue is just a faceless assassin now. Still important... just... not personally so. It's here, if you wanna read, but like I said, it's minor.
The second edit is a bit more important. I re-read Chapter Eight (the last one) a couple times, and realized that there was something missing from Horse's transition into training. He flips out on M and then she calms him down. Good stuff, and you can read it here.
Depending on what my lunch break turns into, I'll have the first chapter of Part Two up some time in the next couple hours, so check back.
Discuss
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