Filling in Missing Pieces

In putting together Vitamin F, I've found myself at a point where I have several large holes in the storytelling. Over the past week, I've been patching these holes one by one. This should get me to a point within the next week or so where I've got 98% of the text in place for a first draft. After that, I'll just put it into chapters and go from there.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I thought I needed to say what was going on again. Why? While I patch these holes, I constantly ask myself, "What am I going to work on next?"

I'd been putting together a loose plot outline for The Silent Covenant. By itself, that's not a problem, but when viewed as part of The Golden Hollow, it's a big problem. How many novel series start with one of the later books that get published? I can only think of two, the Patternist books by Octavia E. Butler and the Hawkeye books by James Fenimore Cooper. Since I'd be going in a random order, only Bulter's series would work as an example (Cooper's series moves chronologically backwards from book to book).

I've been reading Grave Peril, one of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. Those go in order, sometimes filling in tiny specks of past detail as they arise in the story. Grave Peril even includes one of Dresden's closest friends and fellow try-to-do-gooder, Michael. No introduction for Michael is given; we're just thrown right in the middle of their latest battle against the legions of invading ghosts.

All these things have been running around in my mind, trying to sort out what I should do about the various stories I have about Commander and his warped world. I put together a draft of a Commander novel about ten years ago and have done little with it. There are some characters I need to swap in and out for various reasons, all of which resulting in a major rewrite.

Initially, Commander's motivation was going to be to stop The Organization and its associates from attacking his friends, but that's a loose and melodramatic reason. Last night, I thought of a better reason. Instead of attacking his friends, maybe The Organization snags one of them. Maybe they snag Kathryn Angel--the Golden Hollow herself--and hold her hostage. Sure it's been done, but it's a lot more active a motivation than a generic threat. It also has the benefit of tying everything into the overall series plot instead of being an introduction to that world and its inhabitants.

I've also been experimenting with titles for the old novel once I get it revised. I don't have any big contenders yet, but I'm going to change it to something not Life is Pain. I didn't realize it at the time, but the class I was in was right; that's a crappy title.

Notes on Progress

I came to an odd realization today, one that I feel obligated to share. I know that this is a thought that has influenced my writing (especially Vitamin F) and will continue to do so.

In the movie Children of Men, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a revolutionary, waiting for "The Uprising" to occur. During this conflict, all of society's outcasts will band together to overthrow the government for ostracizing them.

Today I saw a former member of a federal civil rights committee explain the moral, fair reasons why homosexuals should not be allowed to marry. Someone who is supposed to define civil rights was explaining why one group of people should be allowed to do something, while another group should not.

I'm trying to keep religion out of this one, but this goes back to my mindset on the issues that made me come up with Vitamin F. I'm doing this, in part, because I remember what I learned as a child--do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I do my best to stick to that rule, which I do understand isn't easy, but it's still right.

Anyway, I saw footage from a seminar today that made me think that our society is one tiny bit closer to fully ostracizing homosexuals, which in turn brings us one tiny bit closer to "The Uprising." I hope I'm wrong, but I'm going to err on the safe side. I'm going to use Vitamin F to stop the problem by giving readers a future to avoid.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"

All the Stories are Anansi's

I've just finished reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I enjoyed the book. It wasn't Neverwhere, but what is? Neverwhere is probably one of the three best books I've ever read.

There's a line in Anansi Boys that keeps coming up. "All the stories belong to Anansi..." I bring it up because Mr. Nancy/Anansi was a spider. Storytelling is often referred to in arachnid terms.

"[Fill in the blank writer] really knows how to weave a story." "The plot has a complex web of twists and turns." This is how we typically describe storytelling, in terms of a spider.

In The Diamond Age, the first character introduced doesn't directly interact with either of the main characters. Yet he is till important because the key protagonist is his daughter, while the secondary protagonist is one of his son's robbery victims. The Diamond Age is all about distant, but interwoven stories. Guess Anansi got his hands on that story too.

I guess it's just the scientist in me, but I think it's odd that, as a culture, we use simple descriptions of nature to describe some of the most complicated things.

Goals and Rewards

Last week, I started a countdown. I gave myself one hundred days to get a draft of Vitamin F put together. That means I've got to get the core story put down, as well as assembled into chapters. Nothing can be left out; it's all got to come together. I've got until November 17th to meet that goal.

Let's say I meet that goal. There should be some sort of reward, or at least a celebration to mark the occasion. I think back to the opening scene of the movie Misery. James Caan's character finishes writing a book, has a cigarette and a glass of champagne. A simple celebration.

I've got a different idea, brought on by going to my class reunion. The final part of the reunion was making a trip to a nightclub called "Scooters." Strobe lights, faint cigarette smoke, dancing, drinking, all the usual things.

Here's where I start talking about beautiful women again. I saw a woman close to my age. She was between 5'8" and 5'10" with long legs, nice breasts, and a lovely face (I saw her face last). Her hair, god her hair, it was a soft auburn, balanced right between red and brown; her hair ran halfway down her back. So what if she drank? So what if she smoked--hell, she stood around proving that holding a cigarette can make a woman just a little bit sexier.

If this had been taking place somewhere closer to me, I'd have talked to her, maybe even danced with her. But I used distance as an excuse not to go talk to her--which was dumb since several of my old classmates knew this woman. It's in the past, so I'm not going to worry about it.

However, I had the insane thought that, once I get that draft of Vitamin F finished, I should go to one of the clubs around here and make up for my mistake. I'm not saying that I will or won't find a nice girl to talk to, but it wouldn't hurt to try. If nothing else, I can always use the topic of "I've just finished the first draft of my novel" to stir up some conversation.

Three May Be Too Much

Despite my better judgment, I've started reading another book, bringing my current count up to three. It's a crazy thing, trying to read more than one book at once. You've got to make sure they are different enough that you won't confuse them with each other.

The book I can only read at home is The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. It's a major exercise in "postcyberpunk," which differs from cyberpunk in that the characters are either trying to maintain the status quo or improve it. In cyberpunk, the protagonists tend to try to tear down their societies, or at least fight against them to some degree. This is the kind of book you can only read alone. Having any real distractions will pull you far enough away that you can't comprehend anything from the text.

The book I'm reading for fun is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. It's a spinoff of American Gods and is completely twisted and fun. A quick read, as most of Gaiman's books are. With little effort, I've blasted over a third of the way through the trials and tibulations of Fat Charlie Nancy.

The third book is a book I have been compelled to read. A friend of mine, upon hearing about Vitamin F said it reminded her, to some degree, of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's a dystopian novel about the persecution of women in an infertile world, all orchestrated by a theocracy. I'm curious to see how Atwood plays with infertility, since it's not total infertility like in The Children of Men (another book I still need to read).

Remarkably, I've kept the three titles distinct so far. Let's hope I can keep it up.

Creations of Shadows and Dust

In Gladiator, the character Proximo speaks of fame and glory as being "shadows and dust," a phrase which proves to be his last words. A common expression of illusion over the years, especially to Neil Gaiman fans, is "smoke and mirrors." However you might want to say it, it all amounts to misdirection.

We all want to believe in magic. We all want to be fooled. No one claps until the last part of the magic trick, The Prestige, brings back what disappeared to begin with.

You see, I've learned something in the past few weeks. Call it an objective observation on human nature, if you like. But people, no matter who they are, will partition their lives. They only give out bits of their personalities to certain groups, almost never revealing who they really are to anyone.

There are a fair number of friends, close friends, that I haven't told the plot of Vitamin F about. I haven't even given a hint of the story to my family. That is how I conceal my life, although I'm sure there are probably more examples than that. I'll be nice and give you another one.

I've got a 10-year high school reunion coming up. The organizer asked me to bring paper cups and plates to the afternoon portion. Since this portion of the reunion is potluck and involves screaming children, I decided I wasn't going. Did I tell anyone involved? No. I tricked them into thinking I'd be there. As I said, they wanted to be fooled, just as I wanted to be fooled when I was trying to get a date with one of my coworkers. I cleared the air, wiping away that smoke, all those shadows and dust. I'm sure the organizer isn't pleased to hear I'm not coming to that part; we've been friends our whole lives.

The sad thing is that we don't see around the illusions unless there's good reason to. And that is something that doesn't happen without some degree of discomfort. I thought I was good friends with the coworker I asked out, and maybe I am. But there's been a distinct air of "you don't know a damn thing about me" coming off her in the days since. It made things awkward for a while, but things are moving back to where they were and I'm glad.

Writers will exploit this sense of self-deception, this illusory field of shadows and dust, when they present the plot on the back cover of the book. That cover is a way to sell you on the contents of the book. A lot of times, the cover will tell you the truth. Most of the time, it's only telling you half the truth. Most of Greg Rucka's books work this way. The back cover of Vitamin F that I presented not too long ago is laden with half-truth as well.

So I go now, to write my paranoid little book with it's paranoid little thoughts. I leave you for now with a crumb of paranoia: When we read or watch TV or play a video game, we want to believe. We want to be fooled.

It's just in our natures to be this way.

1732

Did an amazing amount of writing on Thursday. I was delving into the rationale of an incredibly sadistic character, actually letting her lash out at the world to the full extent that she really wanted to. It involved a minigun, specifically the Spanish Ameli, which is traditionally mounted in helicopters since the early 1980s.

It turned out to be lots of death and killing, madness and torment. At 1732 words, it turned out to be one of the most productive days I've had since I started keeping a running record of my progress.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to feel out a few more beta readers and officially build that list.