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Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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11:28 pm - Progress report (x-posted to twistdfateangel@lj)
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Holy cow, I actually finished chapter 1. This is a major accomplishment, even if it isn't terribly good. I'm trying to track down beta readers. I had some from my wedding forum, but I don't have their e-mails and I'm reluctant to double-post there (it's bad manners to double-post on this forum, esp. in the thread I'm thinking of). I'm a little worried I'm rushing the plot a bit, as the villain's motives almost slipped out there. But, I think I saved it, mostly by making him look like a creep and a pervert, in a subtle way, as in no dirty talk, just dirty dancing.
I'm trying to tone it down a bit. It all seems so simply laid out and heinously kitschy. Not the cool kind of kitsch, either. Like a Superman villain trying to make it in a Neil Gaiman book. It could work, but it would either look absurd or be way darker than I really need at present. But then, I also want this guy to look criminally stupid. Where's the balance, I wonder?
I'm not sure how to start chapter 2, honestly. The original plan was to delve a bit deeper into the heroine's life, before jumping to the hero and having them bump into each other. But I ended the last chapter with the heroine in the spotlight, so a part of me wants to be fair and open on the hero's point of view. He's become essential to the story, even though he doesn't even figure in my "Halloween '08" notes. I like organic stories, though. I like it when a character blooms and contributes something of value. It's like the bit about Chekhov's Gun. If you spotlight a gun in Chapter 1, you have to use it at some point. Hence the Monroe kids, who I want to keep around, despite the sudden urge to go all dramatic and Tough Guide to Fantasyland and let him gasp out a clue as he dies.
Computer! Take me to the weasels!
current music: "Honour"-VNV Nation
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| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
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11:42 am
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I had an idea for a scene in Chapter 2 that illustrates Medical and Security Technology in Underglass. Basically, instead of charts at the ends of hospital beds, there's a screen, with an on/off switch activated by body heat and possibly handprint scan (or not, this is a big hospital and if the main archive is down, not even an authorized doctor would be able to read it), then a pass key and password or personnel number. But, I want that to be subtle. See, while all this is going on, the Detective is talking to the Doctor monitoring Craven Monroe (junior psychic) and hoping he can sneak a glance at the kid's charts before the heat switch registers cooling and the pressure delay (pushing buttons, touching the screen, etc.) wears off. The Doctor, however, is no dummy and stalls neatly. Therefore, by the time Det. MacGregor gets to even blink at the screen, it's off and signed out, so MacGregor can't see anything.
This does generate an interesting cultural effect. You can tell a person works in the medical or scientific field by how they type. If they finish typing and their hands rest on the sides of the keyboard, that's a sure sign that they're used to handling hospital readout screens.
But, I want this to be a subtle thing. Not, "Ooooh, SCIENCE!". I want the reader to go, "Oh, that's how things are here." The detective is used to this level of technology, but the reader might not be. How does one do that?
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1:40 am - The Muse is an Evil Mastermind
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So, I've been trying to get to bed earlier lately, to prep for going back to school in Fall (haven't signed up for classes, but I'm working on it). When, suddenly, these two pop up.
"Hi! We're the Monroe siblings!"
"I'm Vainglorious--!"
"--And I'm Craven!"
...Yer kiddin' me, right?
"Mother wasn't terribly well educated, but she did what she could and made sure we got the best schooling she could afford. Besides, they warned her at the hospital and she just took to calling us 'Gloria' and "C.J.' "
You had to show up after I read all that stuff about "Writing the Other", huh?
"You've got to admit, they're awesome names."
Oh, god, you two had better be awesome supporting characters or I'm going to introduce you two to the wonders of Headdesking.
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At least, now, I have a name for a character who might have faded into obscurity forever.
(X-posted to twistdfateangel@lj)
current mood:  annoyed
current music: "Fidelity"-Regina Spektor
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| Sunday, April 19th, 2009
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10:01 pm - Notes from Ch. 1, City Under Glass
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--Bridewells, Mr. Johann and Mrs. Amira. What do they know about Aunt Ivy's death?
--What's special about Aunt Ivy's dagger pendant?
--Explore ties between Brightknife and Leila's family. Also, ties between Aunt Ivy and Viola.
--Brightknife. Good spirit gone mad? Bad spirit gone mad? What came before?
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| Thursday, February 5th, 2009
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5:14 pm - On the effects of writing
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I just finished and submitted a rather maudlin little short story to a magazine, entitled "December's Unicorn". I feel drained. I took out the garbage and did the dishes, but I'm just too worn out to do anything and I'm so incredibly depressed suddenly. I really hope this story makes a little money. Tragedy sells about as well as sex and I'm so exhausted by it, I think I deserve some kind of compensation.
God, that sounds entitlement-whorish of me.
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| Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
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8:13 pm - Reminder
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Usernames of IndieBride "beta-readers":
- Blink
- Stiffy
- sgcorrie
- oceansofenvy
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7:33 pm - Thoughts on antagonists (finally!) and Familiars
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Hunter swallowed up by Florigin hole.
Hole releases Tainted spirit "Brightknife".
Viola Lyons tricks Brightknife into being trapped in Underbasement entrance tunnel, which she then blocks off.
Brightknife spends the next nine years in the Underbasements, growing more and more insane and gathering power from Florigin vents.
Breaks out a week after Leila's debut.
Leila has dreams of being young again, playing with Hunter. Hunter's ghost tells her that "when I came down, something came up", "She let something out when She took me", and "it's still down there, waiting, watching, angry, mad".
She can still see spirits, but can't remember "the face".
Brightknife takes over the fountain where Hunter was taken. The water spirits in the area begin to go mad, attack wizards and introducing taint to the water system.
Increase of crime and disappearances draws in Det. MacGregor. MacGregor notices Leila and realizes she's connected to this.
Also, what about the "helpful" Wizard? Need to develop him further.
As an ironic twist, Leila's future familiar renamed "Brightknife"
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Familiars are nebulous spirits, shapeshifters with no names. When a Wizard and a Familiar decide to team up, the Wizard gives the Familiar a name and the Familiar marks the Wizard. Over time, the Familiar begins to take on a standard shape, though doesn't lose its shapeshifting powers. They aid in magical work and in various other matters as needed. As spirits go though, they're pretty weak, but compared to Wizards, they're quite tough. Wizards can protect them from certain spiritual hazards, but are really more effective with Familiars.
current mood:  relieved
current music: "Haunted by the Thought of You"-Jill Tracy
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| Thursday, January 15th, 2009
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2:28 pm - Thoughts on magic
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--Magic doesn't have set rules of its own. Magic can, when sufficiently pushed, be affected by the rules the mind sets for it. Which is why someone can use blue in an air spell and have it function perfectly, while another person swears by yellow and gets the same effect and another uses white with no problems. That's also why most adults can't use magic the way children do. Children, in the adult mind, are only doing magic by accident. They forget that the rules worked when they thought with the simplicity of a child.
--Too complicated? Alternate rules: Magical rules only affect certain aspects of Magic. Sympathy only affects a spell if certain conditions are being met, etc.
--But what factors determine what rules?
--Brush up on rules of Witchcraft and other real-world magical systems. Must be an answer to the age divide and why people like Leila aren't affected. It's probably all a mental thing. Leila still sees with childlike wonder, so could that have something to do with it?
current mood: frustrated
current music: L&O CI
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11:16 am
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Shadows lurk like scraps of silk
scattered by the north wind
ink and tears are mixing in my hands
there's no money for bread
Angry, tired, lonely, hungry,
carving up my old black dress
memories of richer times
can keep us warm at night
Shadows lurk like mourning veils
weathered threadbare by the wind
stark and inky memories of richer days
shield me from my shame
Inky shadows in the windows
money dried up like tears
leaving itchy trails
there's no money for shoes
Black and blue we beat ourselves
looking for a hook to hang the blame on
shadowed circles from the past
and we're on the edges circling in
current mood:  depressed
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| Thursday, January 8th, 2009
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12:42 pm - All-Saints Psychiatric Hospital and Spiritual Rest Center
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(or, Why Brenna Shouldn't Be Allowed To 'Trol Around TVtropes After Sunset)
In the earliest recovered records of Underglass, magic is an unstable force. Many times, a person would cause explosions of magic, only to Fog terribly or become Tainted. These people were often a danger to themselves or others and, due to their fragile grip on their abilities, could not be placed in normal mental health care.
In NCE 77, the Church of All-Saints and the Persephone Mental Health Care Coalition opened the All-Saints Psychiatric Hospital and Spiritual Rest Center. The Center was run by a Hospitaller order of monks and nuns, the Order of Malta, and was specially designed to resemble a spa more than a hospital. The accepted therapy was rest, fresh air, and relaxation, but it was rarely, if ever successful.
In NCE 121, the Hospital came under new management, by Dr. Victor Derleth. Derleth was a noted psychologist who had been studying the now-dwindling population at All-Saints and had come up with several new theories and therapies. His critics dubbed him a quack, as many of his methods and beliefs had been long discontinued by the beginning of the Lost Times. However, the hospital did seem to flourish under his hand. He produced a new test, administered to those suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, between the ages of 12 and 39. Those who passed the test were considered to be safe, but the test could be recommended again later. Those who failed were considered to be "Plosive Psychosis Positive" and were recommended for an outpatient program for treatment and study. Plosive Psychotics were usually submitted to various forms of mental and emotional abuse under corrupt doctors, causing the break necessary to admission to All-Saints.
Derleth had, prior to the creation of the Test, had been Tainted while working with a husband and wife pair of patients, Anthony and Blossom Natale. Florigin encouraged the admission of new patients and created a leak into the hospital water supply, Tainting doctors, nurses and making many patients worse, if not poisoning them entirely. The doctor and nurses became almost doll-like, constantly smiling and serene, but often sadistic and downright murderous. It took the disappearance of Judge Grant Harlow's daughter, Grace, from their pediatric wing to have the hospital investigated and closed.
The hospital itself was torn down in 156, unleashing many "ghosts" on the local block of hospitals and retreats, though several lingered. Wizards make a point of not going to that hospital block, if they can help it. Many of the records have been lost.
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Yeeeeeaaaah... Not sure I'm keeping this plot point for ANY book. But, it was cool when I first thought of it!
current mood:  confused
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| Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
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4:40 pm - Possible Subplots for now or later
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--The Fraternity of Holy Brothers: a small religious group (possible Florigin taint or Taint-lead) who know of Wizards and believe them to be evil. Murders are found in strategic locations around the city, burned at the stake, crucified upside down, impaled or tortured to death. They use code names and wear concealing masks and hoods, which is convenient as many of them die in battles with Wizards. At direct odds with the Brotherhood of St. Cyprian and the Sisters of St. Justina (collectively, the Children of the Holy Eosphoros)
--Uncle Robin: Leila's uncle, a retired Ghosteye. Witnessed a group of Tainted kidnappers die horribly and their child hostages be swallowed by a Florigin hole and saw inside the mind of Florigin. It drove him gibbering mad.
-- I forgot this one...
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11:06 am
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Well, I've been vetoed on Tony/Leila. Not only do they love each other, but the whole Lyons family approves. Even crazy-mama!Viola.
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| Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
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9:21 pm - The Detective and the Mother
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Two characters popped into my head tonight. One of them is a soon-to-be friend of Leila's, Det. Melanthius "Tony" MacGregor, who was turned aside by the wizard societies of Underglass for reasons I haven't solved yet. He's probably not going to be a love interest. He strikes me as being too much of a boy scout in the beginning and I just can't see them connecting at the moment. She does intrigue him, however, and he supports her dreams of an alliance between Tall and Small.
The other is Leila's mother, Viola Lyons. She's one of a very tiny minority, who not only start Fogging at a late age, but Fog so completely, it's basically a form of early-onset senility. Viola was a hell of a wizard and is still quite the beauty (I'm almost thinking she ought to be played by Jane Horrocks, accent and all).
More notes later.
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| Monday, January 5th, 2009
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6:44 pm - The Elusive Antagonists
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Underglass has antagonists. Florigin, the mysterious Gaia consciousness that half-aids, half-plagues the city, is one, but she's much too great a threat to be dealt with in one book, let alone one of a series. The Ghosteye soldier who's been Tainted and gone mad is another, but I don't think I want to approach that spin on the Ghosteyes, yet.
So who is the foil in this first story?
In a way, Leila is sort of surrounded by nebulous threats. On one side, she has the Elders, who don't really approve of her youthful mindset. Already, she's clashed with them as a Small (initiated by the events of the Prologue). At least one may be genuinely out to snuff her magical abilities.
...And there! An antagonist has struck upon me, one who might even be an ongoing character. There is a wizard who not only wants her to succeed, but would kill, lie, cheat, and otherwise be very naughty to put Leila on top. I'll have to explore this character further.
There's also the angle of the Smalls. Many Smalls will probably not trust her. She's a full-fledged Tall now and, as such, she can't be trusted. Many of them will be looking to sabotage her, simply because they feel she's meddlesome.
I'll need to come back to this. I'm so stinking tired, suddenly. But, I'm not sure I can finish this first chapter without knowing who Leila is up against.
current mood:  exhausted
current music: "The Truth Beneath The Rose"-Within Temptation
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| Friday, December 19th, 2008
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12:37 am - I *CAN* finish something!
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Underglass' Prologue is done! And WOW, is it dark.
The protagonist's best friend just got abducted/murdered by the antagonist. No-one believes her. It doesn't help that she used magic on the one grown-up who could have helped her, or that he would have forgotten it later and rationalized it as the kid almost drowning or something else.
Come to think of it, the prologue might not be done. It feels like it should be. But, I'm not sure I want the meeting with the adult wizards to be a flashback in chapter one and I don't want to drag out needless, unexplained angst for ages and ages, because, damn it, I am better fucking writer than that.
I get the feeling that there's a corrupt soldier-mage involved in this. He's not a bad guy at first glance. He's rather more of a nuisance and a sleazy jackass, more or less there to highlight later what happens when these guys (who are basically outcasts from normal military society in this world) alienate their own circles.
The adults aren't bad guys here. Not the immediate ones anyway. They're a shade ignorant and a bit paranoid and overly protective of the younguns, but they're good people. They don't like the situation and don't want the children involved, naturally. Every child lost is a prospective grown-up defender of the city gone, in a subculture with low numbers to begin with.
God, I wasn't expecting to write a political fantasy!
current mood:  artistic
current music: "Beloved"-VNV Nation
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| Sunday, December 14th, 2008
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8:35 pm - Tosscobble
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Needs 8 players, can be played with up to 64 (four teams of 16)
The four teams are White (light-based), Black (dark-based), Red (physical) and Gray (spiritual). Each team has at least two people, with other players either present or replaced by magical constructs anchored to stones. Chess terms are used but in different forms. "Castling", for example, is the act of capturing a Pawn (spirit construct) or a spell in a shield spell, causing it to destroy and consume itself.
The two people required for each team are designated "King" and "Queen". The King is in charge of spells and commanding the Knights (larger, more potent spirits, commonly zoological spirits) and Bishops (angelic/demonic spirits). The Queen controls the ball, which shows where a piece may move next, and the Pawns, which are small, elfin spirits who fight on the front lines. Generally, the King is male and the Queen is female, not by gender-segregation of perceived ability, but by gender-specific titles. In stories, a male monarch is King and a female monarch is Queen. If there aren't enough of a gender to go around, boys can just as readily take up the Queen position as the King and vice versa.
In a game with more players, the constructs and shield spells are controlled by individuals, with the commanding monarch lending strength and directing the other players. Because of this, the game can often turn quite noisy, as children shout orders in code, cheer each other on and jeer at opponents. The resulting chaos occasionally dissolves into brawls or scatters as more sensitive players run off.
current mood: artistic
current music: "Palladio"-eScala
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8:25 pm - Oh, my God...
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I want this wo/man to draw the cover art for Under Glass. I want him/her/zir to draw the concept art for the video game and feature-length film. I want the wo/man to bear/father my mixed media children.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=141787
Please, oh, please, Zyllantha, Muse of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Steampunk, let Underglass become a reality and let this individual paint the face of Underglass.
current mood: enthralled
current music: "Palladio"-eScala
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| Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
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2:53 am - Awakening: A Break from NaNo
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I'm taking a moment because I feel a need to delve into the hearts of my characters a bit deeper. This is going to be a stream-of-consciousness post as many things are coming to me at random.
Mari/Pixel =/= butch/femme. Yes, Pixel is an ultra-femme, but Mari is sort-of straddling the line between butch and femme. Yes, she enjoys hitting things and fixing her car and doing man stuff (*grunt* I say!) but she wears girly clothes and likes cooking and romance. She's kind of a guy mentally, being that she does stupid guy shit, but she's a chick still and there are many womanly things about her. Though, yes, it's still funny to hear Pixel in my head say "but I'M the femme!"
Archer ran track for one season to prove that Mari wasn't the only jock in the family. Mari was either on the swim team, soccer or basketball team.
Alita works at the Campus Library, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. She brings in her own tea, because the stuff the other two student librarians is sub-standard crap.
Alita found Felicity as an orphan on the side of the road while driving to Brunswick to visit Mom and Dad and Aunt Molly. She hand-raised her all Summer.
Puck's dad is Grimalkin. They haven't been on decent terms since Puck awakened. Grimalkin could deal with a gay son, but not a Thyrsus.
Gypsy's father got her into Fleetwood Mac and folk music. Her full True name is Esmerelda Rhiannon Carlisle, though her family (and Puck, in private moments) call her "Esme".
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| Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
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10:45 pm - Ugh...
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Word Count: 20,030
What happened? I was on a roll.
Amber Rose feels flat now. It doesn't feel nearly as exciting or rich or beautiful as it felt a week ago. It also feels like I'm not hearing nearly enough from Sophie, who ought to have thoughts on everything and opinions, not just be an opening for exposition. The Grand Duchess and the Handmaiden have barely done anything except giggle like ninnies and simper at people and I know they have more personality than that.
*sigh* What the hell happened?
current mood:  sleepy
current music: "Summertime"-Billie Holliday
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| Friday, November 7th, 2008
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3:33 pm - Of course...
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I was right. My body has decided to go all hormonal on me, meaning I'm sick to my stomach, moody, tired and achy. I don't known why I'm watching Bridezillas when I feel like this. I should be writing and I just want to reach out and slap these girls. I have a sorta head start on my word count, but it's not enough and I just feel so crappy I can't think straight.
Fucking hormones.
current mood:  sick
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